Guardians vs Tigers Predictions, Player-Prop Picks & Best Odds for Game 3

• Tied 1-1 in the best-of-five series, the Detroit Tigers host the Cleveland Guardians in Game 3 of the ALDS on Wednesday
• Alex Cobb will start for the Guardians while the Tigers still haven’t named a starter
• See the Guardians vs Tigers predictions, best odds, and player props to target on Oct. 9

The Detroit Tigers (86-76, 43-38 home) were able to even their best-of-five ALDS with the Cleveland Guardians (92-69, 42-39 away) on Monday but their pitching staff is in rough shape heading into Game 3. After ace Tarik Skubal pitched an eight-inning shutout in Monday’s 3-0 win, Detroit manager AJ Hinch still hasn’t named a starter from his shorthanded staff for Wednesday’s pivotal Game 3.

Cleveland will roll with 13-year veteran Alex Cobb, who pitched just 16.1 innings in the regular season due to various injuries.

First pitch is scheduled for 3:08 pm ET at Comerica Park in Detroit. TBS will have the broadcast in the US while Sportsnet will carry the game in Canada.

Cleveland Guardians vs Detroit Tigers Predictions

• Tigers moneyline (-104) at FanDuel
• Under 7.5 (-135) at ESPN Bet
• Alex Cobb over 4.5 hits allowed (+145) at DraftKings

Sascha Paruk’s 2024 MLB playoff betting record: 10-8 (+2.47 units). All wagers 1 unit unless expressly stated otherwise. 

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The Tigers went with a true bullpen game in Game 2 against Houston in the Wild Card round and, aside from the fact that they needed to use seven different pitchers, it went just about perfectly. With no single pitcher accounting for more than 1.2 innings, the Detroit bullpen allowed just two runs on five hits in the decisive game of their best-of-three with the Astros (a 5-2 victory).

Cleveland and Detroit will be right back at it on Thursday for Game 4, so Hinch can’t really afford to use all of Keider Montero, Beau Brieske, Brenan Hanifee, and Tyler Holton (who combined for 40 starts in the regular season) on Wednesday. But neither Kenta Maeda (6.09 ERA in 17 starts) nor Casey Mize (4.49 ERA in 20 starts) is on the ALDS roster, so it’s unlikely that Hinch will ask for more than three innings from any one pitcher.

All of the above would seem to lean to the Guardians, who have a savvy veteran on the mound and the best bullpen in baseball; their 2.57 ERA and 7.8 WAR were both MLB-bests, and it wasn’t particularly close.

But Cleveland wasn’t particularly good on the road this season (42-39) while the Tigers are 14-6 SU in their last 20 home games.

On Monday, Kerry Carpenter cranked a game-winning three-run homer off Emmanuel Clase (0.61 ERA, 0.66 WHIP in 74.1 IP), arguably the most-dominant pitcher in baseball at the moment. That one swing completely shifted the momentum of the series and the crowd at Comerica is going to be absolutely electric for Detroit’s first postseason game in nearly a decade.

I expect the AL’s hottest team in the final quarter of the regular season to parlay Monday’s heart-pounding victory into a 2-1 series lead.

CLE vs DET Game 3 Pitchers: Cobb vs TBD

Best Guardians vs Tigers Odds for Game 3

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The vast majority of Wednesday’s MLB odds have the Guardians vs Tigers Game 3 moneyline at -110 both ways, but FanDuel currently has the line skewed more heavily to the visitors, which means it has the best available odds on the Tigers moneyline at -104. DraftKings, however, has the best odds on the Detroit runline at +1.5 (-180). ESPN Bet has the best runline price the Guardians, offering Cleveland -1.5 at +160.

All sites other than ESPN Bet list the total at 7.0. But ESPN Bet abhors whole numbers and has the O/U at 7.5 with the under favored at -135. DraftKings has the best odds on over 7.0 at -112.