Cleveland Indians vs Toronto Blue Jays Prediction, Preview & Odds - August 2, 2021

by Chuck Sommers

Sunday, Aug 01, 2021
Game time: 3:07 p.m. ET
Venue: Rogers Centre
Where to watch: Bally Sports Great Lakes, SNET, SNET-1, MLBN

Season-to-date
Blue Jays: 54-48 (4th place, AL East)
Indians: 51-50 (2nd place, AL Central)

Recent lineups


Indians:
Bradley Zimmer (L) RF
Amed Rosario (R) SS
Jose Ramirez (S) 3B
Franmil Reyes (R) DH
Oscar Mercado (R) LF
Roberto Perez (R) C
Owen Miller (R) 1B
Myles Straw (R) CF
Ernie Clement (R) 2B

Blue Jays:
George Springer (R) CF
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (R) 1B
Marcus Semien (R) 2B
Bo Bichette (R) SS
Teoscar Hernandez (R) RF
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (R) LF
Randal Grichuk (R) DH
Santiago Espinal (R) 3B
Alejandro Kirk (R) C

Odds at USA Sportsbooks

DraftKings: Blue Jays -335, Indians +260; Over 10.5 -105, Under 10.5 -115

Recent form
Indians: Have lost five of eight entering Sunday
Blue Jays: Winners of four straight, five of six

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Indians - Blue Jays preview


It’s an exciting time for the Toronto Blue Jays.

They’re back home at Rogers Centre. They’ve made a major trade deadline acquisition to their pitching staff. Now, they’re on a little winning stretch with some more home cooking to come.

Toronto will continue their 11-game home stretch Monday as it begins a four-game series against the Cleveland Indians.

The Blue Jays are on a four-game winning streak and have won five of six following their three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals. For all the talk of the moves the other American League East teams made, Toronto bolstered its starting rotation by adding 27-year-old Jose Berrios.

The former Minnesota Twins starter threw six innings of scoreless ball while striking out seven in his Toronto debut, a 5-1 victory for the home team.

Toronto is staring up at the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees, but the gap is closing. The Blue Jays are three games back of the second wild card spot, currently held by the Oakland Athletics, and 7.5 back of the first-place Rays.

The Jays hope Berrios, and a return home after a long stint in Buffalo, will propel a playoff push. George Springer went 1-for-3 on Sunday after a two-home-run game Saturday; the first such game for Toronto’s prized free-agent acquisition last offseason.

“Obviously, I didn’t have a lot of game reps under my belt and hadn’t faced a Major League pitching staff or team in a long time,” Springer said Saturday. “I just think reps, at-bats, and I keep going out there every day and keep working towards the ultimate goal, which is winning.”

If Springer’s bat comes alive, that will aid destroyer of baseball Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who remains on a Triple Crown-like pace. It might be difficult to catch Shohei Ohtani on the home run pace, but there’s a chance. It may not be Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson bringing the thunder anymore, but there’s a ton of pop in that lineup.

Toronto may be a year away from being compared to its stretch of American League Championship Series appearances in 2015 and 2016, but this is a sneaky team that has the ability to catch fire right away. The Blue Jays are +3000 to win it all at some online books. It wouldn’t hurt to put a few bucks down as the regular season continues to wind down.

The Blue Jays welcome an Indians team in the midst of a seven-game road trip; they haven’t been at Progressive Field since July 28. Cleveland has alternated wins and losses in its past five games entering Sunday; they’re wrapping up a three-game road set against the first-place Chicago White Sox. 

Cleveland won 12-11 on Saturday led by homers from Amed Rosario, Owen Miller and Austin Hedges. 

It’s been a down year for the soon-to-be-named Guardians. They’re on pace to miss the playoffs for only the second time since reaching the World Series in 2016, but will have to finish the rest of this season without manager Terry Francona due to health issues.

Plus, they’ve been down starting pitchers Aaron Civale and Shane Bieber. Poor rookie left-hander Sam Hentges is getting lit up this season with Cleveland trying to win by committee.

Eli Morgan and Robbie Ray are expected to be on the mound for Cleveland and Toronto, respectively, on Monday.

Trends


The books are reacting to Toronto’s recent winning ways with that high moneyline number. At time of publishing, it’s gone down to -270 in some areas but some books are keeping that opening number. The Indians haven’t done well as a heavy dog; they’re 2-7 when their line is between +175 to +250. That’s the MLB for you.

The Indians, however, are 7-3 in the last 10 meetings against Toronto. The under has also cashed in 15 of the previous 21 meetings at the Blue Jays’ barn.

Prediction


You get the sense the Blue Jays are trying to make a push. Now that they’re back home in the comfort of their home field, I wonder how much they will take advantage of this stretch that’s been put on a silver platter for them. Blue Jays win, with the under.

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Chuck Sommers

About the Author:

Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.

All photographic images used for editorial content have been licensed from the Associated Press.

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