Cleveland Guardians vs San Diego Padres Prediction & Picks - MLB

Prediction published on 8/16/26, 9:52 AM  by Bill Christy | Modified on 8/18/26 at 11:16 AM in MLB Picks

The San Diego Padres and Cleveland Guardians will play the 3rd and final game of their series in Cleveland this afternoon. It will decide the series, as each team took one of the 1st two games.

The bats were hot for both teams in the 1st game of this series. Four different batters for the Padres had multi-hit games, while Tatis Jr and Bogaerts each made the most of their only hits by putting the ball out of the park. Lowe and Rocchio of the Guardians combined to go 5-8 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, and 3 RBIs. After the Guardians took an early 3-0 lead through the 1st three innings, the Padres came back and ultimately won 7-5 with Bradgley Rodriguez picking up his 1st save of the season.

Joey Cantillo, the starter for the Guardians, was the story in game two. He went 6 strong innings, where he allowed just 1 run on 1 hit and struck out 7 Padres. Kwan, Ramirez, and Adell combined to go 5-12 with 4 doubles and 3 RBIs to give Cantillo all the run support he needed to pick up the win for the Guardians.

Newly acquired Casey Mize will make his 3rd start for the Padres in this one and will be countered by Tanner Bibee of the Guardians. Bibee has pitched decently on the season with a sub-4.00 ERA but has not gotten enough run support. He is just 4-12 on the season and can not seem to find his way to that 5th win.