Tigers vs. Guardians Game 1prediction: Odds, expert picks, playoff history, news, betting trends, and stats

With a trip to the ALCS on the line, the Cleveland Guardians welcome the Detroit Tigers to Progressive Field early Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers arrive fresh off a 2-game sweep of the Houston Astros while the Guardians are the #2 seed in the American League having won 92 games and the AL Central division along the way.

The Tigers are led by Tarik Skubal who is certain to win the 2024 AL Cy Young award. After throwing a gem Tuesday in Game 1 of the Astros’ series, Skubal is expected to start Game 2. Would not be surprising to see Detroit use relievers to start multiple games in this series. Speaking of relievers, Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase is the closer for Cleveland. He is the premier closer in baseball. He leads a bullpen that ranks first in practically every category.

Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.

We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first-pitch, projected pitching matchup, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

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Game details & how to watch Tigers vs. Guardians – Game 1

● Date: Saturday, October 5, 2024
● Time: 1:08 PM ET
● Site: Progressive Fiel
● City: Cleveland, OH
● TV/Streaming: TBS, TruTV

Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.

Game odds for Tigers vs. Guardians

The latest odds as of Friday:

● Moneyline: Detroit Tigers (+125), Cleveland Guardians (-150)
● Spread: Tigers +1.5 (-190), Guardians -1.5 (+155)
● Total: 7

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Probable starting pitchers for Detroit @ Cleveland

● Saturday’s pitching matchup (October 5): Tyler Holton vs. Tanner Bibee

○ Tigers: Holton (7-2, 2.19 ERA) has allowed 23 earned runs and 57 hits while striking out 77 over 94.1 innings. Holton made 2 appearances in the Wild Card series vs. Houston pitching 1.1 innings of shutout ball.

○ Guardians: Bibee (12-8, 3.47 ERA) has allowed 67 earned runs and 150 hits while striking out 187 over 173.2 innings. This will be Bibee’s 1^st playoff appearance.

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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Tigers @ Guardians

• This is the first postseason meeting between these AL Central rivals

• The Tigers have covered in 4 of their last 5 road games

• The Tigers have a winning record (16-10) on the road at divisional opponents this season

• The UNDER is 4-1 in the Tigers’ last 5 matchups against AL Central teams

• The Tigers’ bullpen has posted a 2.41 ERA over the past 30 days

• The Guardians won the season series against the Tigers winning 7 of the 13 games. They were outscored by the Tigers, however, 60-50 in those 13 games.

Playoff History for Detroit and Cleveland

• Tigers: Detroit upset the Houston Astros in the Wild Card round winning two straight in Space City. Prior to this season, the Tigers last qualified for the playoffs in 2014. They have won the World Series in 1935, 1945, 1968, and 1984.

• Guardians: Cleveland has an all-time record of 60-58. They have appeared in the World Series 6 times – 1920, 1948, 1954,1995, 1997, and 2016 – and lost 6 times.

• As mentioned previously, this is the 1^st time these rivals have met in the playoffs.

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!

Expert picks & predictions for Game 1 of the series between Detroit and Cleveland

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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.

Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.

Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Saturday’s Tigers vs. Guardians

· Moneyline: NBC Sports is recommending a play on the Tigers on the Moneyline

· Spread: NBC Sports is recommending a play on the Tigers on the Run Line

· Total Runs: NBC Sports is recommending a play on the Total OVER 7 Runs

Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC Sports for money line, spread and total picks for each of the games on today’s calendar!

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