Kansas City Royals at Oakland Athletics Series Preview and Odds
Royals Have Cooled Off Significantly
For most of the season, the Kansas City Royals have been one of the biggest surprises in baseball and they have already won almost as many games as they did in all of 2023. But, even good teams go through multiple rough patches each season and, right now, the Royals are in the middle of one. They’ve dropped six of eight as they continue a road trip this week against the lowly Oakland Athletics who have lost nine games in a row.
If you’re making Royals vs Athletics predictions, Kansas City is a -126 moneyline favorite in Tuesday’s opener and is +130 on the runline to win by two runs or more. The total is eight runs.
Expert Pick: Subscribe below to get our Premium Insights!
Expert Pick: Subscribe below to get our Premium Insights!In the Royals’ defense, their recent skid has come against really good teams in the Seattle Mariners, (Royals took 2-3 from SEA) New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. However, as a team with good MLB stats in 2024 that has put itself in position to challenge the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central, Kansas City needs to beat playoff teams in order to hang with the contenders. The good thing for them is that Oakland is almost as far away from contention as possible.
The Athletics were a .500 team in the beginning of May but have fallen off a cliff since then, going 9-31 in their last 40 games. You knew that Oakland, with such a young rotation and so many lineup question marks, would come back to earth. Still, though, it’s jarring for any team to go from playing competitive baseball to having multiple 8+ game losing streaks in the span of just over a month.
Kansas City Royals vs Oakland Athletics 
Day/Time:
Location: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California
Kansas City’s Rotation Is Lined Up Perfectly
One big reason why most Royals vs Athletics predictions are going to favor Kansas City is the Royals’ rotation, which has the 8th-best ERA in baseball largely due to the three guys who are set to throw this week. Alec Marsh — Tuesday’s starter — has bounced back from a rough rookie season to boast a 3.63 ERA in 12 starts while Cole Ragans (3.14 ERA) is one of the most promising young starters in baseball and Seth Lugo (2.40 ERA) is a top AL Cy Young candidate after signing with Kansas City this offseason.
It won’t be easy for Oakland to produce much offense against Marsh, Ragans and Lugo. They don’t walk many hitters and don’t allow many home runs so, if you want to beat the Royals’ top arms, you’ll have to do it with sustained rallies.
The MLB odds today like Kansas City to win with Marsh going up against Oakland’s Hogan Harris, who has been a bright spot for a beleaguered rotation, but they aren’t as pro-Royals as you might imagine. That’s likely due to the Kansas City bullpen. That’s this teams big flaw as it’s 19th in ERA and toward the bottom of baseball in strikeout rate, WHIP and hit rate. John Schreiber and Angel Zerpa are the only regulars with ERAs under 4. So, even if the rotation and lineup can give Kansas City a lead, there’s no guarantee the bullpen can hold it.
Oakland’s Lineup Has Fallen Off
As any Royals vs Athletics predictions should take under consideration, the Oakland lineup hasn’t exactly been a world-beater for most of the season but things have taken a turn for the worse offensively for the A’s in recent weeks. Now, they’re dead-last in the Majors in batting average, third-worst in on-base percentage and runs scored, and fourth-worst in OPS. They’re still fifth in home runs but when no one is on base for those home runs, it translates to much fewer runs scored.
Brent Rooker, JJ Bleday, Shea Langeliers and even Tyler Soderstrom are producing at the dish but, beyond the top guys, Oakland is getting next to nothing. Couple that with a rotation that is pretty much in the bottom-five across the board in all major pitching categories, and it starts to make sense why Oakland is going through such a tough time in June.
The Athletics will have to take advantage of the Royals’ shaky bullpen in order to have a legitimate chance in Tuesday’s opener and in this series.
Take Royals To Win Big
Go with Kansas City, at least in the first game. They aren’t huge favorites at -126 on the moneyline and +130 at -1.5 runs on the runline so there’s plenty of value on the Royals who, on paper, should be able to handle the Athletics with ease based on the Royals stats. Harris is a decent starter, though, which explains some of the closer-than-expected line yet he has only made three starts and hasn’t faced an offense as good as that of Kansas City yet.
With that said, consider taking the over eight runs (-115) in this one. Marsh and Harris are solid starters but the Royals have a good offense and neither team’s bullpen is up to snuff. Expect a lot of late scoring here.
For MLB betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
