Keagan Smith gives you a preview, prediction and pick for today’s game between the Cleveland Guardians and Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday’s MLB slate.

The opening days of the 2026 MLB season have been an absolute blast to watch, and as we roll into the second week of action on the diamond, there are plenty of games for fans and bettors alike to choose from.

The Los Angeles Dodgers (3-1) suffered their first loss of the new year last night at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians (3-2). They’ll now battle once again as the home side looks to avenge that loss, and with superstar Shohei Ohtani making his first start of the season, they probably do have the advantage in this one.

Can small-market Cleveland stun a superteam again? Here’s a betting prediction and pick for tonight’s Guardians vs. Dodgers matchup courtesy of MLB odds and lines on DraftKings Sportsbook.

Guardians vs. Dodgers prediction, preview

Last night’s game ended in a 4-2 finish that favored the Guardians, but both teams ended the game with nine hits apiece. Cleveland still eked out the win and now has a .613 OPS and .208/.273/.339 slash line that could certainly be better, but as I’ll say often for the next couple of weeks, it’s still early. Jose Ramirez is just 3-for-21 and will surely get his legs under him at some point, and Steven Kwan had a three-hit game to improve to 7-for-22. Now, nobody has homed aside from Chase DeLauter, who has four on the young season. That’ll change with time too, but a 29.9% K% for this lineup and 6.5% BB% don’t spark a ton of confidence in terms of plate approach thus far. The pitching staff has a 4.50 ERA and 1.30 WHIP and has overperformed a 4.94 FIP, for what it’s worth.

As I said in the intro, last night was the first loss of the season for the Dodgers. They’ll surely be favorites in most matchups, but the offense hasn’t yet looked like the superpower that’s been promised with just 18 runs over its four games. Los Angeles has slashed .236/.309/.398 for a .707 OPS and a .163 OPS is more than respectable with five homers, but a .247 BABIP falls 26th in the MLB to this point. Shohei Ohtani is an uncharacteristic 2-for-12 but does have a .412 OBP, and the duo of Andy Pages and Miguel Rojas are the team’s hit leaders at the moment… just like we all expected, right? The Dodgers’ staff has a 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP that are among the sport’s best to start off, and while they’re middle of the pack in K% and BB%, they’re eighth in K-BB% at 19.3%.

Tanner Bibee gets the start for Cleveland after going five innings in his season debut, giving up four hits with three earned runs on three homers, though he struck out seven hitters. His 2025 season was okay, however, garnering a 4.24 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with above-average grades in xERA and xBA, so that may have been some bad luck last year that drove his ERA up.

Ohtani gets his first start for Los Angeles after returning to the rotation last season. He threw to the tune of a 2.87 ERA and 1.04 WHIP across 47 innings, striking out 62 batters in his 14 starts. Now fully healthy and a season removed from injury, he’s set to take the league by storm again with his two-way ability. While he didn’t qualify for most of Baseball Savant’s advanced metrics based on sample size, he did average a stunning 98.1 MPH on his fastball last season.

Guardians vs. Dodgers pick, best bet

DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Dodgers as -280 Moneyline favorites at home this evening, while the Guardians hold +224 odds to win outright. The run total sits at an even eight.

Best Bet: Shohei Ohtani over 6.0 strikeouts (-107)

Ohtani worked as an opener for much of last season’s pitching sample, but he was clearly feeling himself once he got a couple starts under his belt. His numbers were quite impressive and he still generated a 33.2% K% despite the layoff from throwing, also with great numbers in whiff rate. The Guardians are striking out more than most teams through the first few games and I think he has the kind of stuff to keep them swinging.