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The Royals and Astros get set for Game 3 of a four-game series. It's time to continue our MLB odds series with a Royals-Astros prediction and pick.
Houston won the first two games as offense has been the main factor so far. Both teams have scored at least six runs in each of the two games. The Royals are not in a good spot right now. At just (29-50), the Royals have a lot to figure out. They already traded away Carlos Santana to the Seattle Mariners and a few others could be on their way soon. As for the Astros, they continue to be one of the top teams in the league at (53-27). Yordan Alvarez dominated the month of June and is continuing his pace in July. He has been a huge part of their success this season.
Here are the Royals-Astros MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Royals-Astros Odds
Kansas City Royals: +1.5 (+105)
Houston Astros: -1.5 (-126)
Over: 8 (-102)
Under: 8 (-120)
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Why The Royals Could Cover The Spread
On the mound for the Royals is Brad Keller who is (3-9) with a 4.24 ERA. He's fresh off of a huge outing where he allowed just five hits in the win against the Detroit Tigers. That was his second quality start in his last three outings as he also dealt against the Oakland Athletics back on June 18, allowing just one hit in seven innings. If they can get that Brad Keller tonight then they should be able to keep this game close. However, he's facing one of the best lineups in all of baseball.
Andrew Benintendi is hitting the ball very well this season. He's batting .313 and has 92 hits on the year. With Salvador Perez out for a few more weeks, the rest of the lineup must pick up the pace if they want to be competitive. Bobby Witt has shown flashes this year but is only batting .236 on the year. He is currently day-to-day and is out of the lineup tonight. If the Royals want to keep this close then they must try and force the bullpen to come in early.
Why The Astros Could Cover The Spread
Christian Javier is on the bump for the Astros tonight. He's been excellent this year with a (6-3) record and 2.58 ERA in 69.2 innings. He pitches even better in Houston with a 1.83 ERA and only eight earned runs all season long. His last two outings were pretty much perfect as he allowed just one hit combined. In his last 19 innings, Javier has allowed two runs and has struck out 32 batters. He is simply dominant right now and should continue his success against a struggling team.
As mentioned earlier, Alvarez has been on a tear this season. The slugger is batting .313 with 25 bombs and 58 RBIs. He's first in the majors with an OPS of 1.075 which is incredible at this point in the season. He's on pace alongside Aaron Judge to take home the AL MVP award if they continue this impressive display of hitting. Alvarez is top 12 in pretty much every hitting statistic but oddly enough only hits .275 at home.
The rest of the lineup filled with Alex Bregman, Jeremy Pena, and Kyle Tucker should be enough to win against Keller. Jose Altuve is out of the lineup tonight.
Final Royals-Astros Prediction & Pick
Take the Astros to cover this spread at home as Javier has been on the top of his game the last two outings. The over at eight isn't a bad option either with the high-scoring affairs the first to matchups.
Final Royals-Astros Prediction & Pick: Astros -1.5 (-126)
