Chicago Cubs at Kansas City Royals Series Preview and Odds

Chicago's Season Is On The Brink

If the Chicago Cubs were going to make a push in the tightly contested National League Wild Card race, they had to get started right out of the All-Star break.

Instead, they lost back-to-back series at home to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Milwaukee Brewers, scoring a total of just nine runs in those six games.

Now, they have to visit the tough Kansas City Royals, whose shaky bullpen exploded in an ugly loss to Arizona on Wednesday.

  • The Cubs vs Royals predictions have the Royals as -142 moneyline favorites and +130 runline favorites in Friday’s opener. The total is nine runs.

Chicago is now five games back of the third and final Wild Card spot so Jed Hoyer, president of baseball operations, has been forced to publicly acknowledge that the Cubs will likely be sellers at next week’s trade deadline.

His team hasn’t given him much of a reason to justify buying, especially with four teams separating them from a MLB playoff spot. The offense just hasn’t been getting it done in the MLB results today and every day since the break.

While the Royals currently hold the final Wild Card position in the AL, their lead is a precarious one. They’re only one game up on the resurgent Boston Red Sox after Kansas City dropped the final two games of its set against the Diamondbacks.

The Royals had won their first four games following the break, but a rough start from Alec Marsh on Tuesday and a meltdown from closer James McArthur on Wednesday ruined the streak. They’ll try to bounce back.

Cubs logo Chicago Cubs at Kansas City Royals Royals logo

📊Records: Cubs (49-55)/Royals (56-47)
⏰Day/Time: 📍Location: Kauffman Stadium; Kansas City, Missouri
📺Streaming: MLB.TV

Royals Have Top Of Rotation Lined Up

It certainly doesn’t help Chicago in any Cubs vs Royals predictions that Kansas City’s top three starters — Brady Singer, Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans — are scheduled to throw in this series.

  • They have been the main reasons why Kansas City has the fourth-best starter ERA in baseball, as all three have ERAs hovering around 3.00. The Royals’ lineup has been up-and-down but the rotation has been steady for the entire season.

Singer, the starter on Friday, has given up one run or fewer in five of his last six starts, including a scoreless seven-inning gem against the Chicago White Sox in his last time out.

Granted, the Kansas City bullpen has been really bad and is pretty much the only major weakness on this MLB team but when you have starters this good, the bullpen doesn’t not need to provide many innings.

It doesn’t get any easier after Singer, as Lugo has been one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, and Ragans is striking out nearly 11 batters per game in his stellar sophomore campaign.

If you want MLB betting tips, consider that the Cubs are a bottom-third offense, so it won’t be easy for them to push much across against the Royals.

Injury Bug Has Crushed Cubs

Things weren’t going too well for Chicago before the Cubs seemed to suffer a major pitching injury every week or so but now the situation is much more dire, not to mention their slippage in the MLB standings.

Cubs vs Royals predictions should note how many key starters and relievers are currently on the injured list for Craig Counsell’s team, resulting in a lot of AAA guys being called upon to throw serious innings in the bullpen.

The good news for the Cubs is that Shōta Imanaga and Javier Assad — who both have had really good seasons will pitch this weekend.

  • The bad news is that Kyle Hendricks, currently boasting 6.69 ERA, is starting on Friday against Singer. Hendricks hasn’t been as bad lately but he still is allowing 10.5 hits per nine innings with a minuscule strikeout rate.

He is having by far the worst season of his career and this is despite actually throwing decently well in his last two outings.

Overall, the numbers are really ugly so MLB player props today involving any form of big offense from Royals’ bats are good bets.

Hendricks just doesn’t have nearly the same caliber stuff as he used to and he isn’t able to use his craftiness to as much effect.

Take Royals By Multiple Runs

The smart play in Friday’s game is to bet on the Royals to cover the -1.5 run spread on the runline at +130.

  • Kansas City is 35-20 at home while Chicago is 22-30 on the road and Hendricks’ ERA is more than double what Singer’s is.

Plus, the Cubs look like sellers and their recent play backs up the notion that this team just isn’t good enough to justify trying to make a dedicated push for an unlikely Wild Card spot.

The over nine runs (-120) is also a good take with Hendricks’ run prevention issues and both teams’ mediocre bullpens.

For MLB betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.


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