The Guardians make the trip to Atlanta to face the Braves. These two teams are both playing very well to start the year with each team currently the top team in their respective leagues with the Guardians in the AL and the Braves in the NL. Our MLB odds series has our Guardians-Braves prediction, odds, and pick for Friday.

The Guardians have been great this season at 18-7 and they have won six of their last seven games. Their bats have been great and rank as a top -10 unit in the league. Their pitching has been a top-five pitching staff as well. Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, and Josh Naylor have been great behind the plate for the Guardians. Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, and Carlos Carrasco have held down the fort on the mound for the Guardians with Shane Bieber injured. The Guardians have been great to start the year but they get a tough matchup against the Braves in this game.

The Atlanta Braves have come out very strong to open the season. They are 17-6 and have won seven of their eight games. They have picked up where they left off last season with an insanely strong batting lineup that is statistically the best in the MLB so far this year. Their pitching has started slower but has been very good now, ranking just outside the top 10. Max Fried, Reynaldo Lopez, Chris Sale, and Charlie Morton have all had varying levels of success up to this point. On offense, Marcell Ozuna has dominated at the plate early on for Atlanta, with Orlando Arcia, Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, Austin Riley, and Orlando Arcia are all not far behind. The Braves have things going right now and seem like the best team in the entire NL already.

Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Guardians-Braves Odds

Cleveland Guardians: +1.5 (-111)

Moneyline: +190

Atlanta Braves: -1.5 (-108)

Moneyline: -230

Over: 8.5 (-102)

Under: 8.5 (-120)

How to Watch Guardians vs. Braves

Time: 7:10 pm ET

TV: Bally Sports Great Lakes / Bally Sports South

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Guardians Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Guardians are going with Logan Allen on the mound and he has a 3-0 record, a 5.06 ERA, and a 1.39 WHIP. Through 26.2 innings, he has allowed 15 runs on 28 hits with nine walks and 21 strikeouts. In his five appearances, the Guardians are 4-1. In his last start, he pitched 5.1 innings and has allowed three runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts in a win. This is a massive challenge for him because of how good the Braves have been so far on the year.

The Guardians are a very good team behind the plate. They are eighth in team batting average at .252 after finishing last season with a .259 batting average which was top five in the MLB. The offense is led by Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor lead the way in most of the batting categories. Steven Kwan leads the way in batting average at .346, in OBP at .386, and in total hits at 36. Josh Naylor leads the way in home runs at six and Ramirez leads in RBI so far at 23. They get a hard matchup against Chris Sale who will be on the mound for Atlanta.

Why The Braves Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Braves are going with Chris Sale to start on the mound. He has a 2-1 record, a 4.38 ERA, and a 1.05 WHIP. Through 24.2 innings, he has allowed 12 runs on 20 hits with six walks and 27 strikeouts. He has appeared in four total games so far this season and the Braves are 2-2 in those games. In his last start, he pitched seven innings allowing three runs on five hits with one walk and seven strikeouts. Last season, Sale was solid for the Red Sox with a 6-5 record, 4.30 ERA, and a 1.13 WHIP.

The Braves offense has been great so far up to this point. They are currently the top-ranked team in the MLB in batting average at .283 just one year after finishing atop the league with a .276 batting average. Marcell Ozuna and Michael Harris II have both opened the year playing great and have led the way in almost every batting category for the Braves. Ozuna leads the way in batting average at .344, in home runs at nine, in RBI at 29, and in OBP at .416. Michael Harris II then leads the way in total hits at 32. The Braves offense can compete with anyone in the league but this is a tough matchup against Logan Allen for the Guardians.

Final Guardians-Braves Prediction & Pick

This is a great game overall. The Braves should be the pick in this game with the home crowd advantage and with how well they have played on offense. Chris Sale is the better pitcher than Logan Allen in this spot too. The Guardians have been playing very well, but this has Braves written all over it. Expect the Braves to win and cover at home against a team as good as the Guardians.

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Final Guardians-Braves Prediction & Pick: Braves -1.5 (-108)