Watch Dodgers-Guardians FREE on MLB.TV
The surging Dodgers are cruising toward their 10th division title in 11 years. The sliding Guardians are trying to stay in the AL Central race. You can watch them for free today when the two clubs square off in an Interleague matinee.
The series finale between Los Angeles and Cleveland is MLB.TV’s Free Game of the Day. (The game will follow the resumption of Wednesday's suspended game, which is scheduled to begin at 12:10 p.m. ET/9:10 a.m. PT. First pitch of the regularly scheduled contest will be approximately half an hour after the suspended game ends.)
The Dodgers and Guardians are two of MLB’s oldest franchises, but they haven’t met often -- this is just the sixth regular-season series between them and the third taking place in Cleveland.
Rookie starter Gavin Williams is lined up to take the ball for the Guardians. He's riding an August hot streak that includes a 2.45 ERA and 32 K’s in 22 innings, but he’ll have his work cut out for him against the Dodgers, who carried a 17-2 August record into the series.
Los Angeles’ offensive attack is led by a pair of former MVPs contending for the award this year in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, both of whom rank among the NL leaders in a number of notable categories this season, including hits, runs, batting average, OPS and WAR.
Betts is having one of the best seasons of his career at age 30 -- he entered Wednesday one home run shy of tying his career high of 35 while slashing .300/.397/.598 with 103 runs scored in 118 games. The same goes for the 33-year-old Freeman, who is hitting .332 with 23 homers, 45 doubles, 84 RBIs, 102 runs and a .982 OPS over 124 games through Tuesday.
The Guardians have a perennial MVP candidate of their own in third baseman José Ramírez, who has finished fourth or higher in the AL MVP race in four of the past six years. He had a .280 average with 18 homers, 67 RBIs, 18 steals and an .828 OPS entering Wednesday.
Cleveland’s struggling offense has received a boost from veteran Kole Calhoun, who was claimed off waivers from the Dodgers earlier this month. Calhoun slashed .306/.370/.469 with nine RBIs over his first 13 games with the Guardians and hit a three-run homer in the series opener against Los Angeles on Tuesday.