Red Sox vs Royals: Series Preview & Betting Odds
Boston Just Keeps Winning
In their wildest dreams, Boston Red Sox fans wouldn’t have expected their team to be 10 games over .500 heading into the final series before the All-Star break. But, Alex Cora’s team — despite injuries and a lineup filled with guys who may be unknown to the casual fan — continues to impress and is currently holding onto the third American League Wild Card spot. They’ll host the team right beneath them, the Kansas City Royals, in a huge weekend set at Fenway Park that starts Friday. This Royals vs Red Sox preview notes that the Royals are a slight -118 moneyline favorite and a +130 runline favorite. The total is nine runs.
Boston has won eight of its last 10 games, thanks to a combination of timely hitting and good starting pitching. Their lineup has a top-ten OPS, the rotation is in the top-third in the Majors in pretty much every category and the bullpen filled with castoffs from other organizations is a respectable 12th in ERA. This is a team that maximizes its talent and has two All-Stars Rafael Devers and Jarren Duran. For the past month or so, the best MLB picks and parlays have involved this Red Sox team.
The Royals have had a topsy-turvy season, going from 15 games over .500 in late May to near-.500 in late June to now eight games over in mid-July. Kansas City’s rotation — led by All-Stars Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans — has been among the best in baseball all year, posting the third-lowest ERA. The Royals also boast one of baseball’s brightest young stars in Bobby Witt Jr., who is leading the Majors in hits and is batting .325. He is a special, special talent.
Red Sox vs Royals 
⏰Day/Time: 📍Location: Fenway Park; Boston, Massachusetts
Royals Have Rotation Edge
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, the Royals’ top three starters are going this weekend with Ragans in Friday’s opener, Lugo on Saturday, and Brady Singer in the finale. Boston will likely turn to Cooper Criswell — who has shuttled back and forth between Triple-A and the bigs — for Friday before using Kutter Crawford and then Brayan Bello. From a pitching perspective, the Royals vs Red Sox preview has to favor Kansas City.
While Ragans hasn’t been as dominant this season after bursting onto the scene with the Royals after a deadline trade from the Rangers, he still has a 3.28 ERA with an eye-popping 11 strikeouts per nine innings. Lugo has been the most consistent starter in the Majors while Singer has bounced back from a rough 2023 with a 2.93 ERA through 18 starts. He has allowed exactly one run in each of his last four outings.
Criswell has been serviceable thus far while Bello has struggled, particularly with walks. Crawford has been a godsend for Boston as a very strong No. 2 option behind ace Tanner Houck. The MLB odds today don’t love Criswell matching up with Ragans, however, so the Red Sox will have their work cut out for them if they want to hold off the Royals who can tie them in the standings with a win.
Boston Has A Deeper Lineup
Even though the Royals are favored, this Royals vs Red Sox preview has to mention how Kansas City has managed to post decent offensive numbers this season despite the vast majority of its production coming from Witt Jr., Salvador Perez, and Vinnie Pasquantino. Most of Kansas City’s lineup has been rather disappointing, with guys like MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe not bringing much to the table.
Boston, on the other hand, has a bunch of players hitting much better than the league-average. Devers and Duran are leading the way but Tyler O’Neill, Wilyer Abreu, Connor Wong even Ceddanne Rafaela have all had good seasons to allow the Red Sox to surprise a lot of people in the MLB standings. Boston is a fast team — sixth-most steals in the Majors — that gets on base a lot and has hit the eighth-most home runs in baseball. When you put all of that together, you get a solid offense that probably punches a bit above its weight.
While the Royals rely heavily on their two All-Stars, Witt Jr. and Perez, Boston can manufacture runs from up and down its lineup.
Go With Kansas City
With that said, the Royals’ edge in Friday’s pitching matchup is why you should take Kansas City straight-up as a -118 moneyline favorite. Ragans is a hard-throwing lefty who strikes a ton of guys out and Boston has a mostly lefty lineup that has been significantly worse against southpaws this season.
Taking Kansas City to cover -1.5 runs as a +130 runline favorite is a tougher ask but that’s decent value considering how good Ragans is (and that Criswell is likely coming up from Triple-A to start tonight). For that reason, the under nine runs at -102 is also the move. The run total has been under nine runs in four of Ragans last five starts.
Royals vs Red Sox Odds
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