Texas Rangers vs Cleveland Guardians Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 09/27/25

The Texas Rangers and Cleveland Guardians face off in Cleveland Saturday as the Guardians are the linchpin to much of the AL playoff race. They are not only tied with the Tigers for the AL Central crown, but they are also tied for the final wild card spot, a game ahead of Houston. The Guards dropped the series opener to the Rangers on Friday, so the pressure is ratcheted up on Saturday. As I say often, motivation matters more than anything else this time of year—teams that have to win usually win, and their biggest enemy is themselves and the threat of folding under pressure. Give me the Guardians on the Money Line Saturday though, and let’s make it a best bet.

The Guardians will start Joey Cantillo. The Guardians have become a factory for starting pitchers, and Cantillo is another in a long line of those guys. Nobody in the Rangers’ lineup has faced him before, and the Ranger lineup is thin in the first place. Expect the Guards to play this like a playoff game (because, well, it functionally is for them), and since the high-leverage arms did not throw last night, they should all be available for the final two days. Expect to see them. Cantillo should go 5 innings, and then a parade of the best arms Cleveland has. On the other side, Texas is using Jacob Latz, who has flipped between the rotation and the bullpen a few times, and he probably won’t throw more than 70 or so pitches. This game should set up well for the Guardians to win it, and they will probably do it with their usual series of infield hits with exit velocities of 40 mph. But it keeps working, so let’s go with it.

Rangers vs Guardians Prediction: Guardians ML (-140) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.