The Cleveland Guardians for most of the summer had the best record in baseball. That has quickly changed in the last three weeks as they have gone 7-14 and now have the 7th best record in all of the MLB.
I am here to tell you that despite the Guardians having a 94.5% chance to make the MLB playoffs with just 30 games left and a 7.5 game lead over the Boston Red Sox (the team just outside of a wild card spot) will miss the playoffs completely.
That pains me to say being a HUGE Cleveland Guardians fan. But, if your a Cleveland sports fan in general you know that heartbreak is right around every corner.
Hear me out on this. The Guardians should not have been this good, and have been outplaying their talent for the better half of 5 months of the MLB season. The pitching rotation for this club has been a revolving door with injuries all around. I mean Nick Sandlin is now taking the bump to start games just so they can figure out who is next in their rotation.
The Guardians at the trade deadline made a move to get starting pitcher Alex Cobb, whom I though was a great addition. But he is now back on the injured list. They have become so desperate that they picked up Matthew Boyd who has a lifetime 5 ERA.
The writing has been on the wall for the last few weeks that we are finally coming into our own as the team we were expected to be. A mediocre middle of the road ball club that has a lineup that on paper without Jose Ramirez would have a hard time beating a Triple-A squad.
After losing a double header against the Kansas City Royals yesterday the Cleveland Guardians have 30 games remaining in the 2024 MLB Season. They currently hold just a 1 game lead over the Royals in the AL Central Division with the Twins lurking as well 2.5 games back.
There are 30 games remaining in the regular season and the Guardians have 15 vs teams with a losing record and 15 vs teams with a winning record. Of those 15 games with a winning record 9 of them are vs the Royals and Twins, the other 6 are vs the Dodgers and Astros who are both at the top of their division.
The Cleveland Guardians only have a 21-19 record vs the Central Division this season and with nearly 40% of their games remaining agains the Central you have to think that they will at the very least give up the division title to either the Royals or Twins come end of September.
I am going to go a step further and say that they are going to finish the year with a 10-20 record and miss out on the playoffs completely. It is not as far fetched as you might think. If the Guardians only won 10 more games this season the Boston Red Sox would only have to go 18-13 the rest of the was to steal that spot from the Guardians.
The chances of this actually happening according to ESPN.com is 5.5%. If your a Cleveland Guardians fan though that number feels much higher. Now the goal is not to have to limp into the playoffs, the Guardians hopefully can turn things around soon and still win the Central Division title and get a 1st round bye. But, at the very least I think they secure the playoffs by winning at least 13 games of their remaining 30 to secure themselves at least a spot in the MLB postseason.
Should we be excited for the Cleveland Guardians to have a goal of only going 13-17 the rest of the way, absolutely not. But, if all you want as a Guardians fan is to at least secure a spot for some October baseball than that is all we will need. There is no way that the Boston Red Sox are going to finish the season with a 21-10 record. They have to play the Yankees, Mets, Orioles and Twins for 13 of those games.
So Cleveland Guardians fans I have set your number to 13 wins for celebration. I hope they can get there, but I have seen enough heartbreak in Cleveland to know that we will continue to lose games and that weekend series to end the regular season against the Astros might be a make it or break it 3 games.
Day #27 of Sportsbetting
Today’s Starting Bankroll: $1,899.54
Bet Size: $18.99
(Yesterday’s Bets) 👇
I swept my best bets for the second time this month! It was a great feeling yesterday to see all those bets win and get us just near $1,900.
$200 ➡️ $200K Challenge Bet: Michael Massey Over 1.5 HRR
- He went 0-4 in the first game of the doubleheader. I will have to start back over with a $2 today. I just can’t get past level 1.3.
Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates Over 8.5
- After the 5th inning we were in full sweat mode as both teams up until that point had combined for 5 runs with the Cubs narrowly holding a 3-2 lead. The top of the 6th won the best easily s the Cubs put up a 8 spot. After the bet cashed I did not watch anymore of the game, but, there were actually 21 runs scored from the 6th to the end of the game so this one was never really a sweat.
Verona vs Juventus Over 2.5
- I was actually surprised about this total and also how little juiced it was (-115). Juventus is one of the elite squads in Serie A. I know they were playing on the road but still you have to figure they are going to at least put 2 goals in vs a weaker Verona opponent. They in fact did such a think in the 1st half taking a 2-0 lead into the break and then in the 53′ a PK was awarded to them to give Juventus a 3-0 lead and my bet a win.
Olympiakos vs Kallithea Over 2.75
- I did not fully win this bet, just half of it as I did bet the asian line. Olympiakos scored in the 14′ minute and I though this was going to be an easy winner but despite a overwhelming possession and attack in the 1st half the score stayed 1-0 till halftime. In the second half Athens scored to level 1-1 in the 60′ with Olympiacos regaining the lead 2-1 in the 79′ minute. No more goals could be found which still had me win half the bet.
Parlay of the Day: 2+ RBI’s
- Alex Verdugo: 3-4, 0 RBI’s
- Matt Olson: 3-5, 5 RBI’s
- Julio Rodriguez: 0-4, 0 RBI’s
Day #26 Profit/Loss: +28.40
What I Learned:
Pay Attention for Doubleheaders: I pulled the trigger in the 200K Challenge bet with Massey the leadoff hitter for the Kansas City Royals yesterday. What I did not realize was that it was for the first game of a doubleheader. First, how stupid of me being a Guardians fan and not realizing there were two games going. Second, how did I not notice the second game in the Draftkings app. I need to do a better job of paying attention to those things. The game that I bet him for was a bullpen game for the Guardians and was not using a traditional starting pitcher. Now, Massey didn’t even play in Game 2, but still.
Day #27 Best Bets Today
$200K Challenge
- #1 Jake Meyers Over 1.5 HRR
#1) EFL Cup: Fleetwood Town vs Rotherham Over 2.5 (-130)
#2) La Liga: Vallecano vs Barcelona Over 2.5 (-125)
#3) US Open: Otto Virtanen ML (+100)
Parlay of the Day: 2+ RBI Milestone (+18050)
- Ernie Clement
- Bryce Harper
- Spencer Steer
