Rays vs Guardians Prediction, Odds, Betting Trends & Probable Pitchers for AL Wild Card Game 1 MLB Playoffs (Oct 7)

Rays vs Guardians Game 1 Info

2022 MLB Playoffs — AL Wild Card Game 1
No. 6 Tampa Bay Rays (86-76, 35-46 Away) vs. No. 3 Cleveland Guardians (92-70, 46-35 Home)
Date: Friday, October 7, 2022
Time: 12:07 p.m. ET
Venue: Progressive Field — Cleveland, OH
Coverage: ESPN

The AL Wild Card round of the 2022 MLB Playoffs features a quartet of exciting matchups, perhaps none more interesting than the 6-seed Tampa Bay Rays visiting the 3-seed Cleveland Guardians. While the Rays have looked great at times this season, they're limping into the postseason on a five-game losing streaking while also losing eight of their last 10 games.

Meanwhile, the Guardians have been one of the best clubs since the All-Star break. Cleveland's .639 winning percentage since July 19 ranks fourth-best in the Majors while no other MLB amassed more than the Guardians' 652 hits over that stretch.

Rays vs Guardians Odds & Spread

All MLB Postseason betting lines, odds and prop bets are from FanDuel Sportsbook.
Moneyline: TB: (+104) | CLE: (-122)
Spread: TB: -1.5 (+176) | CLE: +1.5 (-215)
Total: 6 — Over: (-112) | Under: (-108)

The Guardians enter this contest as a solid home favorite on the moneyline, although Tampa Bay a 1.5-run favorite on the spread. Cleveland is listed at -122 moneyline odds with -215 odds to cover their underdog 1.5-run spread. The over/under on this matchup features a low 6 runs, notably because the strength of the starting pitchers for each side.

Rays vs Guardians Prediction & Pick

Shane McClanahan may have been solid this season, but his last outing against the Guardians was a disaster. Tampa Bay's starter was lit up with five runs on seven hits over only 4.1 innings in the 5-3 Cleveland victory back on July 31.

While a lot has changed since then, the Rays' recent play doesn't do any favor for themselves. Tampa Bay has been held to two or fewer runs in nine of its last 15 games, which isn't the type of production that can help them defeat Shane Bieber, who's 5-0 with a 2.20 ERA in his last six starts this season.

Final Score Prediction: Rays: 2 | Guardians: 5

Rays vs Guardians Probable Starting Pitchers

The matchup on the mound for this contest is set with the Tampa Bay Rays looking to Shane McClanahan (12-8, 2.54 ERA) and Shane Bieber (13-8, 2.88 ERA) taking the ball for the Cleveland Guardians.

Rays vs Guardians Betting Trends

- Tampa Bay is 1-7 straight up in its last eight road games.
- Cleveland is 13-3 straight up in its last 16 games.
- The total has hit the under in eight of Tampa Bay's last 11 road games against Cleveland.
- The total has hit the over in each of Cleveland's last six games.

Devon Platana is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Devon Platana also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username PepeSilvia0. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.