Led by Jose Ramirez (two-game homer streak), the Cleveland Guardians (51-26) are favorites versus the Kansas City Royals (44-38) Thursday at 8:10 PM ET. Oddsmakers have named the Guardians as -114 favorites for the game, which airs on Fox Sports 1. Ben Lively will get the ball for Cleveland while Kansas City will counter with Michael Wacha.
Here is our betting primer for this matchup, and uncover all of our MLB picks, too!
Money Line
Bet $20, Payout $37.54
Guardians to win vs Royals -114
Guardians vs. Royals Betting Lines
- Favorite: Guardians (-114)
- Underdog: Royals (-106)
- Over/under: 8.5
Guardians vs. Royals Betting Insights
- The Guardians have come away with 36 wins in the 51 contests they have been listed as the favorites in this season.
- This season Cleveland has come away with a win 31 times in 44 chances when named as a favorite of at least -114 on the moneyline.
- Sportsbooks have implied with the moneyline set for this matchup that the Guardians have a 53.3% chance of pulling out a win.
- The Royals are 22-27 in games they were listed as the moneyline underdog (winning 44.9% of those games).
- When playing as a moneyline underdog with odds of -106 or longer, Kansas City has a record of 21-26 (44.7%).
- The Royals have a 51.5% chance to win this contest based on the moneyline’s implied probability.
Guardians vs. Royals Hitting Leaders
- Ramirez leads Cleveland in home runs with 21, runs batted in with 72 and his batting average of .279 is also best on his team.
- Ramirez’s home runs put him fourth in baseball, and he ranks second in RBI.
- Josh Naylor has collected 66 hits this season and has an OBP of .319. He’s slugging .504 on the year.
- Bobby Witt Jr. has a team-high batting average of .311, and paces the Royals in home runs (12) and runs batted in (53).
- Among all hitters in the majors, Witt’s home run total puts him 41st, and his RBI total ranks 13th.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has 21 doubles, two triples, eight home runs and 31 walks while batting .236.
Guardians vs. Royals Pitching Rankings
- The Guardians average 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings as a pitching staff, first-most in the league.
- Guardians pitchers have a combined ERA of 3.50 this year, fifth-best in baseball.
- The Guardians have a combined 1.195 WHIP as a pitching staff, sixth-lowest in MLB.
- The pitching staff for the Royals has a collective 8.1 K/9, which ranks 23rd in the majors.
- Kansas City has the 10th-ranked team ERA across all MLB pitching staffs (3.81).
- The Royals average baseball’s 15th-ranked WHIP (1.263).