In today’s MLB betting guide, the Texas Rangers look to sweep the Kansas City Royals, while the Baltimore Orioles try to bounce back after getting shut out vs. the Seattle Mariners.
Kansas City Royals (+105) vs Texas Rangers (-130)
The Rangers look to go for the sweep against the second-worst team in the MLB, the Royals. The Rangers have won the first two games by a combined score of 18-7 and once again have a good shot with good odds to beat a team that they have 10 more wins than. While the Royals are very poor at home with a record of 13-25, the Rangers have actually done well on the road at 19-17. The Rangers also take a two-game win streak into the final game of the series, while the Royals have lost four in a row and don’t have any bright spots with pitching either.
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The Royals’ starting pitcher is Zack Greinke who has gone straight downhill the past couple of seasons, in particular this season. Once known as a pitcher who would tally a great number of strikeouts per season, he has just 29 in 57.2 innings, 4.5 per nine innings, which is the worst in his 19-year career. He had a solid start in his previous game against the only team that is worse than the Royals in the league, the Oakland Athletics, but was tagged for 12 earned runs in the previous 7.2 innings. He’ll have a good start here, not usually two in a row, and there but the 13th-ranked offense of the Rangers will test him. As for Texas’ starter Dane Dunning, he has pitched mediocre this season but two of his past three starts have been very good. The Rangers are rolling and the Royals are struggling mightily, so take the Rangers in this one and the over (O9, -120) for a third game in a row in this series.
Seattle Mariners (-150) vs Baltimore Orioles (+125)
Both the Mariners and the Orioles are tied in the standings after the Mariners shut out Baltimore in last night’s contest 2-0. It was a turn of events considering the Orioles have been scoring a good number of runs each game as their top of the lineup has been hitting the ball well. It is Robby Ray who has pitched lights out. Today will be different with Chris Flexen on the mound for the Mariners and is 3-8 on the season. The surprisingly good thing about Flexen is that despite average stats, he hasn’t given up more than three earned runs in a start in his past seven times on the mound and can consistently go at least five-plus innings.
Both teams are 6-4 in their past 10, while the Orioles have struggled on the road with a record of 17-24. There shouldn’t be a lot expected of the Orioles’ starting pitcher Austin Voth as he is set to make his third start of the season. In his first two starts, he went 2.2 innings and three innings. As someone who has pitched in relief this season, he will have to take time to build up his arm. As a relief pitcher, he wasn’t very good at all but has done better starting games. His ERA (earned run average) of 7.81 doesn’t tell the whole story as his FIP (fielding independent pitching) is 4.55. Considering he won’t go more than four innings of work, it may allow the slumping offense of the Mariners to take advantage of the many pitchers they will see in the game. Take the Mariners and under (U8, -110) in this one.
Odds via Yahoo and BetMGM.
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