Cleveland at Oakland

Cleveland was fifth in the majors in steals last season and that's a plus for this game opening at Oakland, a huge park, difficult to hit in. The bullpen was ninth in the majors in ERA. Starter Shane Bieber had a 107-34 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 128 innings and spent the winter trying to improve his velocity. It worked, based on his spring training performances. Beiber is 41-16 as a favorite of -125 to -175, including 27-8 on the road. Oakland is closer to a minor-league team off a 112-loss campaign. They had the worst home mark in the majors (26-55), had a bullpen ERA ranked 28th in ERA (5.20) and 29th in WHIP, and were outscored by a whopping 339 runs. 33-year-old starter Alex Wood had a 4.33 ERA in 2023 and the team is 18-48 as a home dog of +125 to +175. Play Cleveland.