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The Kansas City Royals head to visit the Cleveland Guardians today. It is now time to continue our MLB odds series with a Royals-Guardians prediction, pick, and how-to-watch.
The Royals come in off being swept by the Twins. Pablo Lopez threw a shutout against the Royals yesterday and the Royals offense continued to struggle. In the series, it was just seven runs in three games, while the pitching staff gave up 22. The sweep drops the Royals to 25-62 on the season and just three wins in their last ten games. This has already made them sellers going into the trade deadline, and they will most likely be looking to move more pieces.
For Cleveland, it was losing two of three to the Braves to start the week. The Guardians did get to see Ronald Acuna Jr make history though, as he became the first player to hit 20 home runs, steal 40 bases, and have 50 RBIs before the all-star break. With the two losses, the Guardians dropped to 42-44 on the season and are now two games back of the Twins in the AL Central. The Guardians will be looking to add some bats at the trade deadline. They need to find some consistency in their offense if they are going to take over the AL Central and make the playoffs.
Here are the Royals-Guardians MLB odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB Odds: Royals-Guardians Odds
Kansas City Royals: +1.5 (-106)
Cleveland Guardians: -1.5 (-113)
Over: 9 (-105)
Under: 9 (-115)
How To Watch Royals vs. Twins
TV: BSKC/BSGL
Stream: MLB.TV
Time: 7:10 PM ET/ 4:10 PM PT
*Watch MLB games LIVE with fuboTV (click for a free trial)*
Why The Royals Could Cover The Spread
The Royals' offense continues to be terrible, getting shut out yesterday while managing just four hits and striking out 12 times. They are 29th in the majors in runs scored, 26th in batting average, 30th in on-base percentage, and 28th in slugging this year.
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As of late, there have been some positives on the offense. Maikel Garcia has been hot. In the last week, he is hitting .481 with a home run, a double, three RBIS and six runs scored. He has also stolen 2 bases for a team that has stolen eight over the last week. Bobby Witt Jr. is adding two of them as well. He has been driving in a lot of runs. Witt Jr. has seven RBIs in the last week while hitting .346. He has also hit a home run and a double in the last week.
Nicky Lopez and Drew Waters also continue to be hot bats. Lopes is hitting .353 over the last week with a .421 OBP. He has four RBIs and two doubles in that period while scoring three times. Waters has scored five times in the last week while driving in three runs of his own. He also has two doubles and two stolen bases to go with his .333 batting average in the last week.
The Royals send Jordan Lyles to the mound in this one. He has not had a good year, with a 1-11 record and a 6.68 ERA. He has been ever worse away from home this year. Lyles is 1-5 with an 8.02 ERA away from home on the season. His last time out he got his first win of the season. He went six innings giving up four runs, but getting the win over the Rays. It was the first time this year that the Royals got a win when he started a game. They had been 0-15 before that.
Why The Guardians Could Cover The Spread
For the Guardians to win, they need solid pitching. The pitching staff has been the focus this year, with a seventh-place ranking in terms of team ERA. They are also 14th in WHIP and 15th in opponent batting average on the season. Meanwhile, they sit tied for 11th in quality starts on the season.
Tanner Bibee will be hoping to keep things going for the Guardians on the mound today. He is 5-2 on the season with a 3.46 ERA. Last time out he was solid. He went 5.2 innings giving up just three hits and not allowing a run. Bibee did walk two batters, which has been an issue for him this year. He has walked batters in each of his last eight starts and averages nearly two walks per start this season.
The Guardians need a good start from Bibee because their batting has not been good this year. They are 27th in runs scored on the season while sitting 17th in batting average, 22nd in OBP, and 27th in slugging. While the offense has struggled as a whole, some players have been hot as of late. Steven Kwan has been hitting .417 over the last week while scoring six times. He has three doubles but only has one RBI.
Also hitting hot is Josh Naylor, who is hitting .313 in the last week with a .353 OBP. He has scored three times and driven in two runs. The major run pdocuer as of late has been Amed, Rosario. He is hitting .303 in his last seven games and scored four times. He also has a home run and two doubles. Most impressively, he has 11 RBIs in the last seven games. That is nearly half of the team's total of 25. Still, many players are not producing. Myles Straw, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Bell have a combined four RBIs and no home runs. They are also hitting a combined .188 over the last week.
Final Royals-Guardians Prediction & Pick
Do not expect a pitcher's duel in this one with Jordan Lyles on the mound. He has been dreadful all year and if the Guardians can capitalize on that, they should walk away with an easy win. To make matters worse for the Royals, the offense is not hitting. While the Guardian's offense is not good, they have a few hot bats. That is better than the situation for the Royals. Unless the Royals can string a few hits together and Lyles pitches well, they will not have enough to win in this one. With Tanner Bibee on the mound, that will not be happening.
Final Royals-Guardians Prediction & Pick: Twins -1.5 (-113)
