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The Kansas City Royals are on the road to take on the Tampa Bay Rays for the start of a four game series Thursday night. This game will continue our MLB odds series as we give you a Royals-Rays prediction and pick while letting you know how to watch, as well.
The Royals are the second worst team in baseball, just ahead of the Oakland Athletics. Kansas City has lost eight of their last 10 games and have lost nine straight series. Salvador Perez is the leader of the team and is playing well. He leads the team in batting average, home runs and RBI while Bobby Witt Jr. leads the team in hits. As a team, the Royals are batting .233 and they score less than four runs a game. On the mound, the Royals have a 5.17 ERA and 1.41 WHIP. Zack Greinke leads the team in ERA while Brady Singer is the team leader in wins and strikeouts.
The Rays are still the best team in baseball despite their recent ‘cold' stretch. Tampa Bay is just 5-5 in their last 10 games. Yandy Diaz is their best hitter according to batting average, but Randy Arozarena leads the team in home runs, RBI, and OBP. Wander Franco leads the Rays in hits. As a team, Tampa is batting .263 and has the second most home runs in the MLB with 119. On the mound, the Rays own the second best ERA with a 3.53, the lowest WHIP, and the second most shutouts. They also hold opponents to the lowest batting average in the MLB.
The Starting pitchers for this game are Jose Cuas and Shane McClanahan.
Here are the Royals-Rays MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Royals-Rays Odds
Kansas City Royals: +1.5 (+142)
Tampa Bay Rays: -1.5 (-172)
Over: 7.5 (-122)
Under: 7.5 (+100)
How To Watch Royals vs. Rays
TV: Bally Sports Kansas City, Bally Sports Sun
Stream: MLB TV Subscription
Time: 6:40 PM ET/3:40PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Royals Could Cover The Spread
The Royals will be using an opener in this game, so whoever comes in after him will need to be extended. However, Cuas is a pretty good choice for the opener. If he can give the Royals two scoreless innings, it will set the rest of the team up for success. They are not going to hit the ball well, so Kansas City needs to rely heavily on their pitching staff. 23 of Cuas' 32 outings have been scoreless, so he is very capable of shutting down a team for an inning or two. If the Royals can hold the Rays to less than five runs, they have a good shot at covering the spread.
Why The Rays Could Cover The Spread
Shane McClanahan is one of the front runners for the American League Cy Young award. If Shohei Ohtani was not in the AL, McClanahan would probably be the front runner. He leads the MLB in ERA , wins, and is top-20 in WHIP. McClanahan has the third most quality starts, as well. He is facing a bad team with an even worse offense. There is no reason that he should not dominate in this game. If he goes out there and pitches like he has all season, the Rays will cover the spread. The Rays are 13-2 when he starts, and have covered the -1.5 spread 11 times. McClanahan gives the Rays the best chance to not only win, but cover the spread, as well.
McClanahan is at the top of the leaderboards in whiff percentage and chase rate. This makes him a nightmare matchup for the Royals. Kansas City has the fourth highest whiff percentage and fifth highest chase rate. McClanahan will not have to throw the ball in the strikezone to beat the Royals in this game, Kansas City will just chase.
Final Royals-Rays Prediction & Pick
The Royals are just as hard to bet on as the Athletics. With Shane McClanahan on the mound, expect the Rays to roll through this game and cover the spread with ease.
Final Royals-Rays Prediction & Pick: Rays -1.5 (-172), Over 7.5 (+100)
