The Cleveland Guardians (54-50) open a three-game series at Tropicana Field tonight against the Tampa Bay Rays (59-43) in a matchup of playoff contenders from opposite divisions. Cleveland sits second in the AL Central, while Tampa Bay leads the AL East.
The Guardians come to St. Petersburg after a frustrating 3-1 loss in 12 innings to the Twins yesterday. Cleveland managed only one run in dropping their second straight. The bats have failed the Guardians the last two games. Cleveland was just 16-78 (.205) at the plate in the losses. The Rays also enter the series looking to bounce back from a loss, falling 3-1 to the Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon in Toronto. Tampa Bay scored just one run after scoring 23 runs in the previous three games of the series (all wins).
Cleveland will send left-hander Joey Cantillo (8-5, 3.74 ERA) to the mound. The 26-year-old last pitched on July 19 against Pittsburgh, taking the loss in a 7-1 defeat. He threw 5.0 innings, allowing seven hits and four earned runs while striking out seven and walking three. Despite the rough outing, he had been pitching well before that start, allowing just one earned run while striking out nine in a win over Miami on July 12. Tampa Bay counters with their ace, left-hander Shane McClanahan, who enters the game with an 8-6 record and a 3.16 ERA over 18 starts. McClanahan’s last outing came on July 19 at Boston, where he suffered a tough loss after allowing 5 earned runs over 5.0 innings in a 6-1 Rays defeat. Prior to that start, however, he had been dominant, throwing 12⅓ consecutive scoreless innings over wins against the Yankees and Royals.
Diamond Note: The Rays are 35-15 at home.
Lets dive into tonight’s matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game Details and How to Watch: Guardians vs. Rays
- Date: Friday, July 24, 2026
- Time: 7:10PM EST
- Site: Tropicana Field
- City: St. Petersburg, FL
- Network/Streaming: MLB.TV, CLEGuardians.TV, Rays.TV
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The Latest Odds: Guardians vs. Rays
The latest odds as of Friday courtesy of DraftKings:
- Moneyline: Cleveland Guardians (+118), Tampa Bay Rays (-142)
- Spread: Guardians +1.5 (-186), Rays -1.5 (+153)
- Total: 7.5 runs
Starting Pitchers and their Stats: Guardians vs. Rays for July 24
- Guardians: Joey Cantillo
Season Totals: 106.0 IP, 8-5, 3.74 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 112K, 52 BB - Rays: Shane McClanahan
Season Totals: 91.0 IP, 8-6, 3.16 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 85K, 31 BB
Who’s Hot? Who’s Not! Guardians vs. Rays
- Jose Ramirez is 2-8 since returning from the injured list
- Ramirez is 2-6 in his career against McClanahan including 1 HR
- Chase DeLauter saw his 7-game hitting streak snapped yesterday (0-4)
- Cedric Mullins is 1-3 in his career against Joey Cantillo with the lone hit being a HR
- Steven Kwan is riding a modest 3-game winning streak (6-12) and has hit safely in 9 of his last 10 games (17-36)
- Nick Fortes has hit in 4 straight games (7-15)
- Junior Caminero has not homered in 7 games
- Caminero has 6 HRs in July
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Top Betting Trends & Insights: Guardians vs. Rays
- The Guardians are 55-49 on the Run Line this season
- The Rays are 60-42 on the Run Line this season
- The OVER has cashed 49 times in games involving the Guardians this season (49-55)
- The OVER has cashed 46 times in games involving the Rays this season (46-51-5)
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Expert picks & predictions: Guardians vs. Rays
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for tonight’s game between the Rays and the Guardians:
- Moneyline: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Rays on the Moneyline.
- Spread: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Rays on the Run Line.
- Total: Rotoworld Bet is leaning towards a play on the Game Total OVER 7.0.
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