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The Athletics make the trip to Kansas City to face the Royals! These two teams are headed in opposite directions with the Athletics struggling, while the Royals are having a solid season so far. Our MLB odds series has our Athletics-Royals prediction, odds, and pick for Saturday.
The Athletics have struggled this season and have been inconsistent on their way to a 19-2 record. They have lost seven of their last eight games and five straight leading into this series. The Athletics have struggled behind the plate and their pitching has not been much better. JJ Bleday, Abraham Toro, Shea Langeliers, and Brent Rooker have been able to stand out on a struggling offense. On the mound, Paul Blackburn and JP Sears have been decent for the Athletics despite the staff struggling. The Athletics are not the disaster they were last season, but they have not been able to find any inconsistency and have still struggled across the board.
The Royals have played well to start the year with a 26-19 record. Their pitching is a top-10 unit, as compared to their batting which is in the middle of the pack. Seth Lugo coming over from San Diego has made a potent pitching combination to go with Brady Singer, Alec Marsh, and Cole Ragans. The bats have also improved, but still need work. Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. have been the main standouts on the Royals behind the plate, but Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino have also played decent behind the plate. The Royals have played well so far this season and face a struggling Athletics team in this series.
Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Athletics-Royals Odds
Oakland Athletics: +1.5 (-152)
Moneyline: +146
Kansas City Royals: -1.5 (+126)
Moneyline: -174
Over: 8.5 (-122)
Under: 8.5 (+100)
How to Watch Athletics vs. Royals
Time: 7:10 pm ET
TV: NBC Sports California
Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)
Why The Athletics Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Athletics are starting Ross Stripling on the mound in this game and he has a 1-7 record, a 4.98 ERA, and a 1.53 WHIP. He has allowed 34 runs on 60 hits through 47 innings so far this season. In the nine games that he has started this season, the Athletics are 2-7. In his last start, he pitched five innings and gave up three runs on four hits with two walks and one strikeout. Stripling has struggled this season and it might be a tough matchup against a decent Royals offense.
The offense for the Athletics has been one of the worst in the MLB this season. They are 29th in the MLB in team batting average at .218 after having a team batting average of .223 last season which was the worst in the league. Abraham Toro and Brent Rooker lead the way for the team in most batting categories. Toro leads in batting average at .288, in OBP at .339, and in total hits at 44. Rooker then leads the way in home runs at 10 and in RBI at 28. The Athletics have been struggling and do not have a good matchup against Seth Lugo on the mound for the Royals, who has been great this year.
Why The Royals Will Cover The Spread/Win
The Royals are going with Seth Lugo to start on the mound. He has a 6-1 record, a 1.66 ERA, and a 0.96 WHIP on the year. Through 59.2 innings, he has allowed 12 runs on 45 hits with 12 walks and 48 strikeouts. He has started in nine games so far this season and the Royals are 6-3 in those games. In his last start, he pitched eight innings and allowed one run on five hits with zero walks and 12 strikeouts in a Royals win.
The Royals offense has been inconsistent this season and in the middle of the pack. They are 15th in team batting average at .239 after finishing last season with a .244 batting average overall. Their offensive output has been led by Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. in all of the batting categories. Perez leads the way in batting average at .323, in home runs at eight, in RBI at 33, and in OBP at .390. Witt Jr. then leads the way in total hits at 51. The Royals just need their offense to be solid and they get a good matchup against Stripling on the mound for their offense to get going because Stripling has struggled this season.
Final Athletics-Royals Prediction & Pick
The Royals have been the much better team than the Athletics this year. The Athletics are also spiraling currently and enter on a five game losing streak. Stripling has been struggling, while Lugo has been nothing short of great this season. The Royals have not been great on offense, but hold the advantage over the Athletics. The Royals should win and cover and extend the Athletics' losing streak.
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Final Athletics-Royals Prediction & Pick: Royals -1.5 (+126)
