A couple of 2017 division winners will open a 3-game series on Friday when the Indians and Astros meet. The opening pitch from Minute Maid Park in Houston is slated for 8:10 PM ET.

Friday will mark the first meeting of the season between these highly thought of American League clubs. Cleveland has won 8 of 13 against Houston during the last 2 seasons., and those games went 7-5-1 under the total.

Currently (5/17), the MLB odds at BetOnline shows Houston as a money line favorite of -166 and there’s a posted total of 8.0.

Probable Starting Pitchers

Cleveland is slated to send 27-year-old right-hander Mike Clevinger to the mound. This will be Clevinger’s 9^th start of the season and he’s gone 3-0 with a stellar 2.70 ERA. Clevinger has made 3 starts on the road and compiled a microscopic 0.83 ERA while doing so. He’s also averaging 7.2 innings pitched per start over his last 3 appearances. The longevity of his recent outings is huge when considering Cleveland’s bullpen issues this season. Furthermore, Clevinger is allowing only 5.4 hits per start. Meanwhile, Houston is 0-6 this season when facing a starting pitcher that’s allowing 5.5 or less hits per start, and they averaged a paltry 1.0 run scored per game.

Houston will turn to veteran righty Charlie Morton on Friday. Morton has a sparkling 1.96 ERA during 6 home starts this season. Morton has seen each of his previous 3 starts go under the total and his 2.29 ERA was a key contributing factor to those low scoring affairs. Morton has made 2 career starts against Cleveland with one coming in 2015 and the other occurring last season. He had a lofty 5.56 ERA in those pair of outings.

Red-Hot Indians Bats

Cleveland has averaged 7.0 runs scored per game, smacked 13 home runs, and amassed an inspiring .879 OPS throughout their previous 7 times out.

Astros Recent Low Scoring Games

Houston has gone 13-2-1 under the total in their last 16 games and that includes 7-0-1 under during its last 8. The Astros offense which was so dynamic during their World Championship run last season has been anything but that in 2018. Throughout their last 7 games, Astros hitters have an anemic .206 team batting average in addition to their uninspiring .632 OPS. On a positive note, their starting pitchers have been outstanding while their bullpen has been lights out and especially of late. The Astros have allowed 3 runs or less in 10 straight and their bullpen staff has a superb 0.56 ERA over their previous 7 games.

MLB Totals Betting Angle

Houston has gone 5 straight games without committing an error. The Astros pitcher Charlie Morton has a miniscule 0.76 WHIP over his last 3 starts. As I alluded to previously, there’s a total of 8.0 on this game. The combination of this data creates a very profitable MLB totals betting angle which is illustrated below.

Any team (Houston) with a total of 7.0 to 8.5 who’s coming off 3 straight games without committing an error, and their starting pitcher (Morton) has a 0.80 WHIP or better during his last 3 starts, resulted in those games going 55-18 (75.3%) under the total since 2014.

Pick: Under 8.0

MLB Money Line Betting Angle

The Indians are coming off a 6-0 win at Detroit in their previous game. Conversely, Houston was a 2-0 winner over the Los Angeles Angels during its last game. These results qualify for a money-making money line betting angle elucidated below.

Any road team (Indians) coming off a win by 4 runs or more, versus an opponent (Astros) coming off a shutout win, resulted in those road teams going 32-14 (69.6%) since 2014. I can’t disregard this straightforward betting algorithm when making one of my MLB picks on Friday’s card.

Pick: Cleveland Indians +156

Ross Benjamin is a top sports analyst and one of the sports industry's most respected handicappers. Follow him on Twitter: @RossBenjamin1 or visit his website at RBWins.com