Data Skrive:
The Tampa Bay Rays (43-43) visit the Kansas City Royals (48-40) Thursday to close out a three-game series. The Rays are favored (-132) to win the rubber match, which starts at 8:10 PM ET from Kauffman Stadium. Zach Eflin starts for Tampa Bay while Alec Marsh is Kansas City’s starter for the contest.
Check out our betting primer for this matchup, and uncover all of our MLB picks, too!
Betting Odds
Bet $20, Payout $35.15
Rays to win vs Royals -132
Rays vs. Royals Betting Lines
- Favorite: Rays (-132)
- Underdog: Royals (+111)
- Over/under: 8.5
Rays vs. Royals Betting Insights
- The Rays have been chosen as favorites in 47 games this year and have walked away with the win 24 times (51.1%) in those games.
- This season Tampa Bay has been victorious 15 times in 28 chances when named as a favorite of at least -132 on the moneyline.
- Sportsbooks have implied with the moneyline set for this matchup that the Rays have a 56.9% chance of pulling out a win.
- The Royals have put together a 24-28 record in games they were the underdog on the moneyline (winning 46.2% of those games).
- Kansas City has a record of 10-18 when it has played as a moneyline underdog with odds of +111 or longer (35.7%).
- Based on this game’s moneyline, the Royals have an implied win probability of 47.4%.
Rays vs. Royals Hitting Leaders
- Isaac Paredes leads Tampa Bay in batting average (.276), home runs (14) and runs batted in (46) this season.
- Including all hitters in MLB, Paredes is 33rd in homers and 38th in RBI.
- Yandy Diaz is batting .267 with an OBP of .324 and a slugging percentage of .380 this season.
- Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with 56 runs batted in while putting up a team-best batting average of .314.
- In all of MLB, Witt is 39th in home runs and 12th in RBI.
- Vinnie Pasquantino has totaled 56 runs batted in to pace his team.
Rays vs. Royals Pitching Rankings
- The Rays average 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings as a pitching staff, eighth-most in the league.
- Rays pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.26 this year, which ranks 22nd in MLB.
- The Rays have a combined WHIP of 1.250 as a pitching staff, which ranks 13th in MLB.
- The Royals pitching staff ranks 23rd in MLB with a collective 8.2 strikeouts per nine innings.
- Kansas City has a 3.76 team ERA that ranks 10th among all MLB pitching staffs.
- The Royals average baseball’s 15th-ranked WHIP (1.261).