We will be treated to an interleague showdown late on Monday night when the Cleveland Guardians make their way to Los Angeles to play the reigning champs in the Dodgers. The Guards come into this contest off a 4-game series in Seattle to start the year, which was capped off with a nationally-televised Sunday Night Baseball game on Peacock. Meanwhile, the Dodgers opened the season with a 3-0 sweep of division-rival Arizona and had the day off on Sunday. Already, the Dodgers have an extreme situational edge coming in considering they didn’t have to deal with travel and had a day off. 

Parker Messick is expected to take the ball for Cleveland, a 2022 second round prospect that showed some promise late last season, allowing just 12 runs and 6 walks along with 38 strikeouts in 39.2 innings. His strikeout-to-walk ratio carried over into Spring Training this year, but he surrendered 13 hits and 7 earned runs across 10.1 innings in his final 2 spring starts against the Royals and Arizona. 

Roski Sasaki will take the hill for the Dodgers, and walks are still an issue for this guy. After giving up 22 walks in 36.1 innings last year, Sasaki allowed a whopping 15 walks in just 8.2 innings this spring. Those walks led to 15 earned runs.

I’m expecting runs here. Messick has shown promise, but going up against the Dodgers is a completely different animal. I worry about Cleveland’s fatigue factor in this spot, but Sasaki’s walks issue should give the Guards a solid floor when it comes to base runners. 

Guardians vs Dodgers prediction: Over 8.5 (-105) at the time of publishing. Playable to -120. 

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