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BookMaker is the only online sportsbook where you can get the earliest MLB moneylines, runlines, totals and props. If you want to wager on baseball odds like the pros do, you need to join BookMaker today! The ballgame between the Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers will take place Monday, April 3, 2017, at 7:05 p.m. ET at Globe Life Park in Arlington. The matchup can be seen live on ESPN.
Two of the AL’s playoff teams for a year ago will meet to kick off their respective seasons on Monday as the Cleveland Indians head down to the Lone Star state to take on the Texas Rangers. After just barely missing out on their first World Series title since 1948, the Indians are hungry to get back to the World Series and break what is now the longest World Series draught in baseball. This Game 1 of 162 is the first step in a marathon in what they hope will be a return to the Fall Classic.
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ODDS ANALYSIS
The Rangers are at home in this series where they went 53-28 last year for a .654 winning percentage. They’re also facing a Cleveland team that they handled pretty well, winning five of seven meetings.
Three of those games, however, came early in the season before the Indians’ improvement at the trade deadline, though they still did take three of four the series in Arlington back in August.
Another interesting factor in this matchup is Mike Napoli. The now-Rangers first baseman was a huge part of the Indians’ success last year both in the clubhouse and on the field. Rather than bringing him back, however, Cleveland end up signing Edwin Encarnacion to replace him. Now, Napoli has a chance for some early season revenge.
PROBABLE PITCHERS
Coming off a strong season where he was third in Cy Young voting and carried the Indians to Game 7 of the World Series, right-hander Corey Kluber will get his third straight Opening Day start on Monday against the Rangers’ righty Yu Darvish.
Kluber was the team’s most valuable player last year according to rWAR, sitting at 6.5, nearly a full win higher than Francisco Lindor in the second spot. That’s quite impressive considering Lindor played in 158 games while Kluber made 32 starts.
The Klubot was a bit of a late bloomer, but has been filthy over the last few seasons. Last year, he led the league in ERA+ and in FIP at 149 and 3.26 respectively. He saw his walk rate tick up from 2015, but his WHIP remained nearly identical as the opposition had a hard time squaring him up.
Kluber is a workhorse. He went 215 innings in the regular season last year and added 34.1 more in the playoffs. That’s 249.1 innings and a short winter right after back-to-back seasons with at least 222 innings. Will the workload slow Kluber down early in the season? That’s really the only knock against him.
As for Darvish, the Rangers are thrilled to have him back for a full season. He was pretty good in his return in 2016. He racked up 17 starts with a 7-5 record, 3.41 ERA and 1.116 WHIP. His career numbers are a bit better than that and he can realistically get back to his pre-injury numbers after knocking off a bit of the rust. He still struck out 11.8 per nine which shows that he hasn’t lost his stuff. He just needs to fine tune the command and with a full spring training under his belt he should be ready to go.
LIVE BETTING
Last year the Indians’ offense was quietly the second best in the American League.
Granted, the did score 101 fewer runs than first place Boston, but they still topped teams like Seattle, Toronto and even this Texas team.
Early on much of the attention for the Indians went to their deep starting rotation, but little by little we saw the emergence of a superstar in Lindor, the power breakout of Carlos Santana, and the surprising performance from Jose Ramirez.
Now, the Indians have added to that strong offense. Sure, they lost Rajai Davis who was a speedster at the top of the order, but they have added Encarnacion in place of Napoli and should have a healthy Michael Brantley.
It’s easy to forget about Brantley who was a non-factor last year, but when right, the outfielder is a MVP candidate. He put up a .890 and .859 OPS in back-to-back years in 2014 and 2015 and gives the team another guy that can hit over .300, reach base more than 37-percent of the time and drive in runs while keeping the chains moving.
It’s still a question whether Brantley will be ready for opening day and that’s important to follow as the game inches closer. His presence is important as the Indians are already dealing with an injury to Jason Kipnis.
QUICK PICK
We have two teams that were amongst the top four in scoring in the AL last year and two ace pitchers meeting in this game.
Look for a low scoring affair that’ll come down to the bullpens and that’s where the Indians have the advantage. Of course, Terry Francona won’t use his pen like he did in the playoffs, but you still will have a rested Cody Allen and Andrew Miller to take the ninth and eighth innings. With the added depth of Bryan Shaw, Boone Logan and Dan Otero, the Indians really don’t need more than five innings from Kluber who can deliver that easily.
Texas has Sam Dyson, Jeremey Jeffress and Matt Bush, but they’re not quite as strong as the Indians. Look for that to be the difference. Look for the Indians to pull this one out late.
MLB Odds: Indians 4, Rangers 3
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