Cleveland Guardians (19-14) vs. Washington Nationals (15-19)
May 5, 2025 6:45 pm EDT
The Line: Washington Nationals -102 / Cleveland Guardians -118; Over/Under: 9
(Get latest betting odds)
The Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Nationals meet Monday in MLB action from Nationals Park. This will be the first installment in a three-game series this week. Here’s a Nationals vs Guardians prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Nationals vs Guardians pick.
Cleveland Guardians Betting Preview
The Guardians opened up their 2025 campaign with a series win over the Kansas City Royals, then got swept by the San Diego Padres and lost a set to the Los Angeles Angels. After sweeping the Chicago White Sox and winning another set versus the Royals, Cleveland lost a series to Baltimore and swept the Pirates. The Guardians would then beat the Yankees in a series and lose to the Red Sox in a set before taking three of four over Minnesota. Cleveland lost to Toronto on Friday, then in game two the Guardians scored four runs in the top of the ninth in a wild comeback win 5-3. Daniel Schneemann finished with two homers and all five RBI along the way. Starter Gavin Williams had 4.0 innings with two earned on seven hits and five walks.
In the Sunday finale Cleveland scored three runs in the fourth inning along the way to a tight win 5-4. The Guardians collected 10 hits along the way, with Gabriel Arias providing three of them alongside two RBI and a run. Starter Tanner Bibee went 5.0 innings with two earned on five hits and two walks.
As starter for Monday’s opener the Guardians will send out Luis Ortiz. This year Ortiz is 2-3 with a 4.78 ERA in six starts over 32.0 innings. Ortiz is 14-16 with a 4.03 ERA in 65 career games (40 starts) in the MLB.
Washington Nationals Betting Preview
Over on the Nationals’ side, they kicked things off this year with a series loss to the Philadelphia Phillies and a sweep by the Toronto Blue Jays. Washington took two of three from both the Diamondbacks and Dodgers next, then lost consecutive series versus the Miami Marlins and the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Nats would beat the Rockies and Orioles in the next pair of series, then split with the Mets before losing two of three versus the Phillies. Washington lost to Cincinnati 6-1 on Friday, then in Saturday’s matchup the Nats put up 15 team hits (and surrendered 12) during a wild win 11-6. Amed Rosario had four RBI, a homer and three hits in the victory. Starting pitcher Trevor Williams had 5.1 innings with four earned on nine hits and two walks.
On Sunday in the final game the Nationals powered out a 4-1 win. Starter MacKenzie Gore lasted 5.0 innings with one earned run.
As starting pitcher for Monday Washington is going with Jake Irvin. So far this year Irvin is 2-1 with a 4.01 ERA in seven starts and 42.2 innings. Irvin is 15-22 with a 4.43 ERA in 64 career games at the MLB level.
Nationals vs Guardians Prediction
I’ll lean toward the Guardians in this one. Ortiz had a nice win over the Pirates on April 18, going 5.0 innings with two earned on four hits and three walks. That said, in his next outing versus the Yankees Ortiz took a loss with 4.1 innings, five hits and five walks for four earned runs. The good news is that he bounced back in the Twins matchup on April 30 with 6.1 clean frames, three hits and two walks. A quality start here would put Cleveland in a nice spot. As for Irvin, he’s coming off six earned in 6.0 innings in a loss to Philadelphia. That said, in his two starts prior Irvin was 1-0 with three earned combined over 13.2 frames.
The Guardians generally played pretty well Sunday and would have dominated if not for a few bad spots. I like Cleveland to keep it going into Monday’s game.
