Major League Baseball continues on Thursday night with an American League Central matchup. The Detroit Tigers take on the Cleveland Indians in the third and final game of their series. The game is scheduled for a 7:05 p.m. EST start time and it will be televised nationally on MLB.tv in addition to locally. Currently the odds have the Tigers as big favorites at -175 with the total set at 7.5 runs.
Free Preview: The Tigers send ace Justin Verlander to the mound tonight. Verlander hasn't had the season he did in 2011 when he won more than 20 games, but he does have an 11-5 record overall to this point in the season. His ERA of 2.42 is equally as impressive and Verlander went eight innings strong in his last game, a win over the White Sox last week that saw him yield just two earned runs. Detroit picked up a win last night, beating Derek Lowe and hanging on late for a 5-3 win to even the series at a game apiece. The Tigers are in the middle of a heated three-way run for the top of the American League Central with the Indians and the Chicago White Sox. All three clubs are within five games of each other while the White Sox and Tigers have identical 53-45 records and sit at the top of the standings. Current Indians hitters have had less than great numbers against Verlander. In a total of 383 plate appearances combined over the last few years, Cleveland hitters are at just a .238 clip. Michael Brantley stands out a little bit, but he had only 9 hits in 19 plate appearances, good for a .474 average. Shin-Soo Choo, Shelley Duncan, Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore all have hit two home runs in their careers against the Tigers ace, but all have averages hovering around the .200 mark against him in their careers. Cleveland sends Zach McAllister to the hill and in 45 career plate appearances from the current Tigers, the club is hitting .289 against him. No one has move than six plate appearances, however, so he is pretty green in facing the Tigers.
Free Pick: Verlander is always a good bet, even when he is pitching on the road. Obviously, both teams really need this game to stay within striking distance in the American League Central standings. Detroit is still on top of the Central, but a win today would put them a full game ahead of the White Sox and increase their lead over the Indians to 4.5 games, which is what they want to accomplish. Verlander has great numbers against the Indians and even though the -175 price is a bit high for a team, especially on the road, it might and probably is a good bet here tonight.-$25 of picks FREE! No Obligation - No Credit Card Required - Becoming a member is Fast and Free!-Fan of sports betting? Enter the free $10,000 Match Marco MLB Contest and take a shot at winning anywhere from $500.00 all the way up to a Grand Prize of 10k!
MLB Free Picks: Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Indians BettingWhat baseball bettors need to know about Tigers at Indians on Wednesday (7/25/12) - with Pregame.com's Vegas Runner and host RJ Bell.