The San Francisco Giants have been at the center of the baseball world for the past 48 hours. The Rafael Devers trade shook up the league, as unexpected superstar trades tend to do. The 28-year-old slugger will make his San Francisco debut on Tuesday night, and many will be watching. Both the Giants and their opponent, the Cleveland Guardians, will try to shut out the noise and focus on the game ahead of them.
For the Giants, this marks the start of a new chapter. Devers is their best middle-of-the-order bat since Barry Bonds was in town. They’re getting buy-in from the jump, with reports that the Giants and Devers aim to play him at first base. It’s a move that changes the trajectory of the whole season for them.
No such savior is coming for the frugal Guardians. They come into Tuesday at 35-35 and nine games back in the AL Central. They’re accustomed to being in the race each year, but it’s getting away from them. They’ll have to stay reliant on pitching and defense to carry them. No big middle of the order bat is coming to rescue their offense.
The Giants are favored at -151 on the moneyline on DraftKings Sportsbook. The over/under is set at seven runs. Let’s preview this contest and make a prediction.
Guardians vs. Giants prediction, preview
San Francisco brings Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to the mound tonight. Ray is back in award-winning form, four years after his 2021 Cy Young campaign. The 33-year-old lefty boasts a 2.55 ERA through 14 starts, with a FIP lower than his Cy Young season. Armed with an electric fastball and improved command, he gives San Francisco a second ace and takes this pitching staff from great to elite. As I detailed in my NRFI best bets for today, Cleveland has a hard time starting off with runs. If Ray gets rolling with a clean first inning, he’s difficult to stop.
Slade Cecconi, the Guardians’ starter, has a challenging task in keeping up with Ray. The former Diamondbacks first-round pick has pitched to a 4.88 FIP in his career, and things haven’t turned around in Cleveland. While this Giants offense has been up and down in recent weeks, the Devers deal provides them with a shot in the arm. It could be a long night for the young right-hander.
While the Guardians can match San Francisco with pitching and defense on most nights, the gulf in production between the starting pitchers does not bode well for Cleveland. The Giants will capitalize on that gap to start off the Devers era with a win.
Guardians at Giants pick
San Francisco Giants -1.5 Run Line (+143)
All the momentum is with San Francisco right now. Its pitching staff has been nails all month, the offense picks up timely hits, and they just added a middle-of-the-order bat without significant sacrifice to the major league roster. It’s not an even year, but the Giants could be back to contender status.
The same cannot be said for these Guardians. Their margins are so thin that they need elite pitching and defense to scrape by with mediocre offense. With Cecconi on the bump tonight, I doubt the margins work in their favor.
