Cleveland Indians vs. Texas Rangers: Odds, Analysis, Baseball Betting Pick

The last time ace Corey Kluber stepped up to the mound for the Cleveland Indians was in Game 7 of last year's World Series loss to the Chicago Cubs.

The stakes will obviously be a lot smaller for him and his team on Monday, when the Indians visit the Texas Rangers as small, -105 betting underdogs at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.

Kluber surrendered four runs and six hits to the Cubs in just four innings of work in his last outing, eventually resulting in an 8-7 defeat in 10 innings after previously beating them in Games 1 and 4.

Despite blowing a 3-1 lead in the World Series, Cleveland has high hopes of winning a ninth American League Central title and a seventh pennant in 2017.

A lot of that will depend on how well Kluber (18-9, 3.14 ERA in 2016) performs. He went 1-1 versus Texas last season with a 4.85 ERA but earned the win in Arlington, allowing only one run and five hits in six innings with two walks and seven strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the Rangers will be going for their third consecutive AL West title this year, although they have struggled in the previous two postseasons. Texas was eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays in each of the past two AL Division Series and hopes to have a much healthier pitching staff this season to make a run at the pennant.

Yu Darvish (7-5, 3.41) gets the call for the Rangers, and he is one of the key pitchers who will need to avoid injuries if they are going to be successful again. Darvish has made just 17 starts over the past two seasons because of Tommy John surgery, which forced him to miss all of 2015.

Darvish has not faced the Indians since 2014, going 1-0 in two starts against them with a 3.21 ERA. Last season, Darvish was 6-2 with a 4.26 ERA at home.

Texas has won eight of the past 11 meetings, dating back to 2015, in mostly high-scoring games, according to the OddsShark MLB Database. The under has cashed in the past two games between the teams, but the over went 6-2-1 in the previous nine, with 10 runs or more scored five times.