Cleveland Guardians vs. Chicago White Sox July 22 Betting Preview

In the most hotly contested division in baseball, the Cleveland Guardians (46-44) and Chicago White Sox (46-46) will battle it out Friday as they look to climb up the AL Central standings. The White Sox will host this one at Guaranteed Rate Field with first pitch scheduled for 8:10 p.m.

For Cleveland, they have won six of their last 10 games and sit just two games back of the Minnesota Twins in the division. In their last series before the All-Star break, Cleveland swept three games from the Detroit Tigers, outscoring them 20-5.

Chicago also had a good last series as they took three of four from the division-leading Twins. They now sit three games back in the AL Central.

Guardians July 22 Betting Odds

The White Sox are the favorites in this one playing at home. They are -158 to win while the Guardians’ moneyline sits at +134. The runline features Cleveland +1.5 (-162), and the over/under for total runs is 8.5.

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Guardians vs. White Sox July 22 Pitching Matchup

Cleveland will send righty Cal Quantrill to the mound for the opener. In 17 games, he is 6-5 with a 3.75 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and he has 63 strikeouts in 100.2 innings of work.

The White Sox will counter with 28-year-old righty Lucas Giolito. On the season, he is 6-5 in 16 starts with a 4.69 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, and he has 102 strikeouts in 88.1 innings.

Cleveland Looking To Create Separation

While the Cleveland Guardians are trying to move up their AL Central standings to catch the Twins, they will also look to create some separation with the White Sox, who went into the All-Star break playing better baseball.

Leading the way for Cleveland’s offense is third baseman All-Star Jose Ramirez. In 330 at bats this season, Ramirez is hitting .288/.368/.576 with a team-leading 19 home runs, 75 runs batted in, 53 runs scored, and 13 stolen bases.

Ramirez has also been hot as of late, hitting .308 with three home runs and 12 runs batted in over the last two weeks.

Josh Naylor (.274 avg, 13 HR, 47 RBI) and Andres Gimenez (.296 avg, 10 HR, 43 RBI) have also been instrumental to the Guardians’ success.

Chicago Trying To Live Up To Preseason Expectations

After winning the AL Central by 13 games last season, the Chicago White Sox were the clearcut favorites to win the division again this year in the preseason. At just 46-46, Chicago has yet to live up to those expectations, but they trail the Twins by just three games for the division lead.

On Friday, they will look to pull into a tie with the Guardians in the division as they try to move up in the division.

Offensively, Luis Robert has been pivotal to the offense. He is hitting .301/.334/.461 with a team-leading 12 home runs, 54 runs batted in, and 11 stolen bases.

Jose Abreu has also hit well as he is hitting .304/.387/.470 with 11 home runs, 46 runs batted in, and a team-leading 52 runs scored.

Cleveland Trying To Take First Game Of Pivotal Series

Even though there is still considerable time before the end of the regular season, this is an important series for both teams.

Still, Cleveland has to like their odds coming in. They are 5-2 in their last seven games, and they are 6-3 in their last nine with the White Sox. The one downfall for Cleveland is they are just 1-7 in their last eight road games.

This one will come down to the pitching. Lucas Giolito has been inconsistent at best this season, but he is still capable of having a shutdown performance. The same can be said about the Guardians’ Cal Quantrill.

This one will be a tightly fought game, but if Quantrill can limit the damage, the Guardians should have a good opportunity to do enough damage against Giolito to pick up the win.