Kansas City Royals at Los Angeles Dodgers Series Preview and Odds
Dodgers And Royals Scuffling; World Series Preview?
It feels as if anything the Los Angeles Dodgers do the rest of the MLB season is a little bit of a formality because they have a comfortable lead in the NL West and, unless something goes horribly wrong for them, they should win the division for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.
With that said, they’ve dropped three of four with their offense looking human for once. They’ll try to regroup against the similarly slumping Kansas City Royals, losers of four of their last five MLB games.
If you’re making Royals vs Dodgers series predictions, consider that the Dodgers are -155 on the moneyline in Friday’s opener and +140 at 1.5 runs on the runline.
- The total is 7.5 runs.
After winning a big series against the New York Yankees, the Dodgers scored just three runs on Wednesday and Thursday in losses to the Texas Rangers. The mighty trio atop Los Angeles’ lineup of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman was mostly held in check and the rest of the Dodgers weren’t able to pick up the slack.
Los Angeles will be fine and their MLB World Series odds won’t be changed much but there are concerns about the bottom-half of the order that are highlighted when the big guys have off-nights.
The Royals had a tough time against those same Yankees this week, losing the first three games of a four-game set before using a late comeback against New York closer Clay Holmes to salvage the series. Rough starting pitching did Kansas City in for two of the losses.
The good news for Royals fans is that their projected starters for this weekend are Cole Ragans, Seth Lugo and Brady Singer — three of their best arms. They’ll be needed against the Dodgers.
Royals vs Dodgers 
Day/Time:
Records: Royals (40-30)/Dodgers (42-28)
Location: Dodger Stadium; Los Angeles, California
Pitching Matchups Are Great
As noted above, the Royals have their three best pitchers lined up for this series which is something you’ll need to consider when making Royals vs Dodgers series predictions. Ragans — one of the most electric lefties in baseball — gets the start in Friday’s opener, followed by Lugo and Singer.
Lugo is coming off two shaky outings but has been a workhorse in his first season in Kansas City, throwing an AL-most, 91 1/3 innings with a 2.36 ERA. Singer has bounced back from a rough 2023 with a 3.30 ERA in 13 starts.
Unfortunately for Kansas City, Los Angeles has a good group of arms going as well with Gavin Stone, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow on the docket.
Stone has allowed just two runs in his last three starts (17 2/3 innings) and is a likely Rookie of the Year candidate alongside his teammate Yamamoto, who has been worth every penny the Dodgers signed him for this offseason. Glasnow is striking out a ridiculous 12.1 batters per nine innings as he has settled in beautifully as Los Angeles’ ace.
So, if you’re making MLB picks today and you like good pitching, you can’t really have it any better than you do with these teams and these pitchers.
Expect lots of strikeouts, low run totals and some really close and exciting games between two MLB playoff contenders and a bunch of stars, from Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Pérez to Betts, Ohtani, Freeman and Will Smith. This is one of those series you want to be very locked in as it could even be a potential World Series preview.
Los Angeles Can Rake
In addition to having a top-ten rotation and a top-five bullpen by most metrics, the Dodgers are fortunate enough to be either the best or second-best offensive team in baseball.
Any Royals vs Dodgers series predictions should acknowledge how Los Angeles has the third-best average, best on-base percentage and best OPS in MLB and has scored the second-most runs with the second-most home runs.
It’s tough enough to get through the lineup’s top three but then you have to deal with All-Star catcher Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández (with 17 home runs and 50 RBIs).
That’s not to say the lineup is truly unstoppable — if you can somehow negotiate through Betts-Ohtani-Freeman then you have a chance — because the Rangers were able to hold it in check, yet it’s extremely difficult even for elite pitchers to do well against the Dodgers.
Between the best MLB weather, a star-laden roster and years of sustained success, Los Angeles does it better than most baseball teams in the Majors even if the World Series titles have been far too elusive.
The Dodgers are a good bet straight-up at -155 on the moneyline on Friday, even against Ragans. If you want some value, consider going with them to win by two or more runs at +140 on the moneyline.
They have the second-best run differential in the NL, are 22-14 at home and have been even better against lefties (.807 team OPS compared to .760 against righties).
- The run total has dropped to 7.5 runs as well which is a bit low for the Dodgers after two subpar offensive showings. Take the over (-110).
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