Guardians Will Take Game 3 Against Tigers

Guardians vs. Tigers, 3:08 ET

Baseball has the longest season of any sport and can often feel like it is dragging out a bit too long. However, once we get to the playoffs, I almost always feel like I don't want the season to come to an end. The baseball is much more intense. It feels like every pitch, every swing, and every move that is made has added pressure and importance. This game will be no exception as the Guardians take on the Tigers in Game 3 with the series shifting to Detroit.

Cleveland has done an outstanding job this season of solidifying the team as a true contender, but will need to keep their timely hitting and solid pitching from the regular season in order to escape this series with a win against one of the hottest teams in baseball. The Guardians are not the typical team. Sure, they have a superstar in Jose Ramirez, even if most casual fans are unfamiliar with him. They don't really have an Ace on the staff any longer, but collectively the team has reliable arms. I'd say the same with most of their hitting, though. Their lineup, as mentioned, has Ramirez, but outside of him, they just have a bunch of reliable hitters. Not all of them will click at the same time, but they have a good balance throughout the nine hitters. Tonight they put Alex Cobb on the hill. Cobb has been good for the Guardians in extremely limited action. He's made just three starts this year for the Guardians, but again, he only has five earned runs in 16.1 innings. Cobb last pitched September 1st against the Pirates. He went six innings and allowed just two hits and one unearned run. This is a bit of a risk to have him taking the mound, but the Guardians must know some reason to do it. Cobb has faced just two Tigers hitters a total of four times and they have one double.

HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 02: Spencer Torkelson #20 of the Detroit Tigers slides home to score a run against the Houston Astros in the eighth inning during Game Two of the Wild Card Series at Minute Maid Park on October 02, 2024 in Houston, Texas.  (Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images)

I mentioned this before, specifically about the Tigers, but I also wrote it about the Royals in my other article for today: they are playing with house money. Whatever happens, this season is a bonus for them because no one (outside of maybe Geoff Clark and some Tigers fans) expected them to be good this year. The team snuck into the playoffs after knocking out the Twins who were slipping late in the season. They then took down the Astros in two straight games on the road, beating one of the most experienced playoff teams. Sure, the Tigers have Tarik Skubal, the Cy Young winner for this season, but their hitting finally being a bit productive took them to this point. However, it has disappeared quite a bit in this series. So far, they have a total of three runs in 18 innings and were scoreless in the first 17 innings of the series. With the crowd behind them they should have a bit of added adrenaline and potentially will have the boost they need. The Tigers are undecided at the time of this writing on who will start the game, which means they are likely to do some sort of bullpen game. They've actually only used Skubal as a starter and have just used relievers for the rest of the work.

On one side of the diamond we have a pitcher who hasn't pitched since September 1st. On the other side, we have an undecided starter, but likely bullpen game. Playoffs have an added pressure on the relief staff, but even this one seems to be asking a bit much of the Tigers team. I do think the Guardians probably win this game. I think they are better, and even with how hot the Tigers were, the offense has spurts of disappearing, and we've seen it most of the series so far. I'll back the Guardians to win this one. 

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