White Sox vs Guardians Odds, Picks, Predictions & Starting Pitchers (April 8)

• The struggling Chicago White Sox look for their first road win of the season in Cleveland during the Guardians’ home opener
• Coming off an ugly outing in his first start, Triston McKenzie gets the ball for Cleveland
• See the White Sox vs Guardians odds, starting pitchers, and predictions for Monday afternoon

It’s worst versus first in the AL Central on Monday afternoon when the Chicago White Sox (1-8, 0-4 away, 2-6-1 O/U) visit the Cleveland Guardians (7-2, 0-0 home, 5-3-1 O/U) in the latter’s home opener of the 2024 season.

First pitch is scheduled for 5:10 pm ET at Progressive Field and the hometown Guardians, who have won four in a row, are listed as big favorites.

Chicago White Sox vs Cleveland Guardians Odds

Monday’s MLB odds list Cleveland as -270 moneyline favorites with the White Sox +220 underdogs to earn their first road win of the season. The over/under is at 8.5. Chicago has been one of the best under teams so far in 2024 (2-6-1 over/under) while the Guardians have skewed to the over (5-3-1 O/U).

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White Sox Struggling at the Plate

The White Sox have lost four straight coming into Monday, getting swept in a four-game series at Kansas City from Thursday to Sunday. Chicago scored just five runs in the four-game set and were outscored 18-5 by the Royals.

Yesterday, the Chi-Sox blew a 3-0 fifth-inning lead in a 5-3 loss.

Chicago’s -26 run differential is the worst in the American League this season and the team sits dead-last in runs scored with just 16 through nine games. Every other team in baseball has scored at least 21. Only four teams haven’t reached 30 runs yet, and three are in the AL Central (Detroit, 29; Minnesota, 21; and the New York Mets, 25).

First baseman Gavin Sheets (.333/.500/.611 with a 1.111 OPS) has been the lone bright spot in the Chicago lineup. He has as many walks (5) as strikeouts.

Guardians Turn to McKenzie in Home Opener

Cleveland has raced out of the gate thanks to shutdown pitching and surprisingly good production at the plate. The Guardians currently have an MLB-best +32 run differential and sit first in runs allowed (21 total, 2.33 runs per game).

But McKenzie’s lone start of the season saw the 6’5 righty surrender five runs (four earned) in just 3.1 innings of work against Seattle on April 1. McKenzie missed almost all of the 2023 season due to shoulder and elbow injuries, but he showed great promise in 2022, posting a 2.96 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 191.1 innings.

He’s been excellent against the White Sox lineup in his short caeer. Chicago’s batters are hitting just .189 with a .509 OPS in 90 at-bats against the lanky righty. Andrew Benintendi and Yoan Moncada have one home run apiece.

Tanner Banks vs Triston McKenzie

Banks has pitched just two innings in relief for the White Sox this season, but he’s as effective as manager Pedro Grifol could have hoped. Banks has pitched two shutout innings (against the Tigers and Royals) giving up one hit and one walk with three strikeouts.

In 61 innings last year – his first full season in the bigs – he posted a 4.43 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with 51 Ks and 16 walks. He made three starts in 2023. His shortest outing was 2.2 innings while his longest was 4.0. As a starter, he gave up eight runs (all earned) over 10.1 innings with 13 hits, three walks, and 10 Ks.

Banks has fairly good numbers against the Cleveland lineup. In 22 total at-bats, Guardian hitters are slashing .227/.292/.455 against the 32-year-old lefty. Andres Gimenez has the lone home run. Josh Naylor is 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI.

White Sox vs Guardians Prediction

It’s hard to back McKenzie in this spot given how ineffective he was in his first start, and the fact that he’s barely pitched in the last 18 months. Yes, he’s largely dominated these White Sox hitters, but he’ll likely need more time to get back to where he was pre-injuries.

Banks has been solid enough so far, and has decent numbers against the Cleveland lineup.

The White Sox’ bullpen has been a far bigger problem than its starters this season. Chicago is actually 1-0-2 in the first 5 innings over its last three games and 2-4-3 in the first 5 this season.

CHW vs CLE pick: White Sox first 5 innings moneyline (+210)

Sascha Paruk’s 2024 MLB betting record: 7-0 (+6.34 units)

All wagers one unit unless expressly stated otherwise.