MLB Baseball
2026-08-26 - Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Angels
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : Major League Baseball
Wednesday 26th August 2026 - Scheduled 4:07pm EST
9:07pm (British Time)
Preview
After struggling for consecutive wins over a month of the schedule and looking to be running out of time and momentum, the Cleveland Guardians (67-66) have once again moved past 0.500 for the season by winning six in a row. They are now 2.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central and the Guardians have moved back inside the top three of the Wild Card positions with a game lead over the Texas Rangers.
There is just a month left of the Major League regular season and the Guardians have to hope they can continue to build in a positive direction down the stretch.
Cleveland have outscored the Los Angeles Angels (52-81) twelve runs to eight to win the opening two games of this series and the Guardians have a series with the streaking Kansas City Royals next. Keeping the momentum behind themselves is important seeing as the Royals are the only team in the American League on a hotter winning run than the Cleveland Guardians.
The road team will give the ball to Joey Cantillo who has a 9-7 record and 3.73 ERA in his twenty-seven starts for the team in 2026.
Joey Cantillo is a third year pitcher and he has picked up his level in recent starts having put together a 1-1 record and 2.18 ERA in his last five outings for the Guardians. He was not able to complete the 5th Inning most recently, but Cantillo held the Colorado Rockies to a single run and was unfortunate not to earn the decision win.
Back in May, Joey Cantillo threw 6 Innings against the Los Angeles Angels and did not give up a run, although he will appreciate that the home team have been seeing the ball pretty well at the plate.
The Angels will counter by handing the ball to Grayson Rodriguez who has a 4-5 record and 6.41 ERA in the fourteen starts he has made having missed the entirety of the 2025 season. The pitcher has not quite reached the level shown in his first two seasons in the Major League, but he is still young enough to bounce back once Rodriguez is completely comfortable on the mound.
Grayson Rodriguez may feel he has shown what he can do in recent outings and is running a 3.33 ERA from the last five starts, which deserve respect. The batting lineup had not helped him much before they ended up crushing the Houston Astros in Rodriguez' last start and earned him the decision win.
The pitcher gave up two runs in 7 Innings thrown when last facing the Cleveland Guardians, although that was in the Baltimore Orioles uniform over two years ago.
The 2026 Cleveland Guardians have won all five games against the Los Angeles Angels and they are going for a second sweep of this American League West opponent.
Prediction
Both of these young pitchers have been playing well of late, but the Cleveland Guardians have the momentum that is lacking in the Los Angeles Angels and that should give Joey Cantillo the edge over Grayson Rodriguez.
The bullpens will be important, but it should be the Guardians leading when they turn things over to the relievers and they can earn a seventh win in a row to continue to heap the pressure on the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central and also on the Wild Card rivals behind them in those standings.
The Pick :
Los Angeles Angels 2-4 Cleveland Guardians
