Guardians vs Athletics Picks and Prediction – 3/30/2024

The Cleveland Guardians visit the Oakland Athletics on Friday for the second game of a four-game series to open the regular season. Last season, Cleveland was 76-86 and finished third in the American League Central, 11 games behind the first place Minnesota Twins. On the road last season, Cleveland was 34-47 and ended the season with a run differential of -35. Make sure you stay up to date with all the MLB action, with our MLB picks.

Cleveland will have several familiar faces in the lineup and some new ones. Steven Kwan, Andres Gimenez, Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor return to anchor the lineup, while Bo Naylor, Ramon Laureano, Will Brennan, Brayan Rocchio and Tyler Freeman will join them. The starting rotation is expected to be Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen and Carlos Carrasco. 

The Oakland Athletics look to bounce back from a very poor 2023 season in which they were 50-112, finishing 40 games behind first place in the American League West. Oakland was 25-55 at home last season and finished with the worst run differential in all of baseball at -339. However, not much is expected of Oakland again this season as the rebuilding process continues.

Oakland is expected to start Ryan Noda at first base, Zack Gelof at second, JD Davis at 3rd and Nick Allen at short. The three starting outfielders are expected to be JJ Bleday, Seth Brown and Lawrence Butler. Shea Langeliers will be the starting catcher for the Athletics while Brent Rocker will be the opening day DH. Ross Strickland will start on the mound Friday for the Athletics and last season was 0-5 with a 5.36 ERA in 11 starts and 11 relief appearances for San Francisco.