Cleveland Guardians vs. Texas Rangers September 23 Betting Preview

After a stressful but successful stretch against division foes, the Cleveland Guardians (83-67) will now turn their attention to the Lone Star state as they take on the Texas Rangers (65-84) in the first of a three-game series starting Friday. This game will be played at Globe Life Field with first pitch scheduled for 8:05 p.m.

After sweeping the Chicago White Sox to start the week, the Guardians now hold a dominant seven-game lead in the AL Central with just 12 games left to play. Barring an epic collapse, Cleveland will be celebrating its first division title since 2018.

While the postseason is not in the cards for the Rangers, they were able to find some success early in the week taking two of three from the Los Angeles Angels, including a 5-3 win in the finale Thursday.

The Rangers are the favorites playing at home Friday. They are (-127) to win, while the Guardians’ moneyline sits at (+112). The runline features Cleveland +1.5 (-193), and the over/under for total runs is 7.5.

Guardians Looking To Wrap Up Division In Near Future

They won’t be able to clinch the AL Central Friday night, but the Guardians would still like to pick up another win and lower their magic number to get into the postseason.

Trying to lead the Guardians to a victory will be 25-year-old Cody Morris. In four games, he is 0-2 with a 2.30 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, and he has struck out 15 in 15.2 innings.

Morris was a hard-luck loser in his last outing. He gave up just one run on six hits in six innings of work in a loss to the Minnesota Twins.

At the plate, Jose Ramirez continues to be the Guardians’ best hitter. In 555 at-bats, he is hitting .277/.355/.519 with a team-leading 28 home runs, 117 runs batted in, 85 runs scored, and 18 stolen bases (tied with Andres Gimenez).

Rangers Look To Finish Strong

At 65-84, this is not the season that Rangers’ fans expected after breaking the bank to bring in the likes of Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jon Gray, and Kole Calhoun. The Rangers have especially struggled at home, where they are just 32-42 on the season.

Trying to finish strong, the Rangers will hand the ball to Gray on Friday. In 21 games this season, he is 7-7 with a 3.80 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and he has 125 strikeouts in 111.1 innings of work.

Gray has gone 0-2 in his last three starts. In that span, he has given up six earned runs in just 9.1 innings of work.

At the dish, Corey Seager has performed admirably after signing a massive free agent deal. In 557 at-bats, he is hitting .246/.320/.461 with a team-leading 32 home runs. He also has 82 runs batted in and 87 runs scored.

This will be the first time that any Rangers’ hitter has squared off against Cody Morris.

Morris Looks For First Win

The Guardians have to be feeling good after winning seven of their last eight games against both the Twins and White Sox. With the division firmly in hand, they theoretically will receive a reprieve as they take on a struggling Rangers team.

Still, the Guardians are the underdogs as they send Cody Morris, who is still looking for his first MLB win, to the mound Friday. Despite being winless, he has pitched relatively well in recent outings.

If he can limit a streaky Rangers’ offense, the Guardians have a good shot of staying hot and picking up the series opener in Arlington.