Sox vs Royals Lines & Preview
Every AL Central Game Is Important
Considering how up-for-grabs the AL Central is expected to be this season, every intra-division matchup seems to take on an extra level of importance. That is certainly the case for the Chicago White Sox (1-4) and Kansas City Royals (2-4) as they meet up in Kansas City for a four-game series starting on Thursday night. The Sox vs Royals lines have the Royals as -220 favorites to win the series (the White Sox are +190) and are -167 moneyline favorites for Thursday’s opener (White Sox are +147), in which Michael Soroka will go for Chicago and Seth Lugo gets the nod for Kansas City.
After a much-maligned offseason following a dreadful 61-win campaign in 2023, the White Sox needed to get off to a good start. Unfortunately, that has not been the case for Pedro Grifol’s team which was swept at home by the Tigers to open the year before splitting a pair of games with the Atlanta Braves. The offense has been hard to come by for Chicago as the White Sox are hitting just .181 as a team with a meager .573 OPS. If you’re making baseball picks today, don’t expect much scoring from Chicago. The total is a pretty high eight runs.
Kansas City has lost its first two series of the season as the Royals dropped two of three to the Minnesota Twins and then fell twice to the Baltimore Orioles on walk offs. The Royals have been pretty competitive so far despite low expectations, thanks in large part to burgeoning ace Cole Ragans who just threw a game against Baltimore on Wednesday so he’ll miss this series.
Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals 
Location: Kauffman Stadium
Day/Time:
Royals Have Shown Pop But Need More Contributors
Another reason why the Royals have actually played solid ball to start the year is because they’ve been hitting a bunch of home runs. Their nine dingers are second in the American League with exciting young infielder Maikel GarcÃa (3 HRs and 7 RBIs) and veteran backstop/DH Salvador Pérez (2 HRs and 8 RBIs) leading the way. Super-prospect Bobby Witt Jr. also has two longball’s.
Those three guys will be critical if the Royals will live up to what the Sox vs Royals lines are expecting for this series. The issue for Kansas City is that they have accounted for pretty much of all of the Royals offensive production. GarcÃa, Pérez, and Witt Jr. are responsible for 17 of the Royals’ 23 RBIs and seven of their nine home runs. Guys like Vinnie Pasquantino and Hunter Renfroe haven’t really done anything and MJ Melendez has been getting on base but he hasn’t been driving in runs.
The Royals don’t have enough all-around offensive ability to be able to rely on just three guys doing most of the heavy lifting if they’re going to succeed in the MLB scores in today games. The main guys need some help and while the White Sox aren’t exactly a formidable opponent, they didn’t roll over against the Braves and they certainly won’t lay down to a division rival.
White Sox Should Turn It Around At Plate
As noted in the introduction, it has been an offensive disaster thus far for the White Sox who are last in the AL in batting average, on-base percentage, and walks. Key lineup pieces Andrew Vaughn, Andrew Benintendi, and Eloy Jiménez have done almost nothing and while Paul DeJong and Luis Robert Jr. both have two big flaws, the Chicago lineup is too talented to be this anemic.
The Sox vs Royals lines recognize how bad the White Sox have been at the plate but there are reasons to believe that could change this series. First, avoiding Ragans is huge because the Royals’ rotation really drops off after him. Second, the Kansas City bullpen has been terrible this year. Granted, the Royals’ starters even outside of Ragans have all been very good — Lugo and Brady Singer (Friday’s starter) haven’t allowed an earned run yet and Alec Marsh (Sunday’s starter) has given up just one — but Kansas City’s ‘pen has an unsightly 8.04 ERA.
So, even if the White Sox aren’t able to get much across against Lugo, Singer, Michael Wacha, or Marsh, they have a good chance at making up for it once the Royals’ relievers take over.
Crochet Has Been Impressive
The White Sox are utilizing a four-man rotation right now which lines up Soroka today, Erick Fedde tomorrow, Chris Flexen on Saturday and staff ace Garrett Crochet on Sunday. Soroka was great in the Spring but struggled in his team debut against Detroit while Flexen was rocked by the Braves in what’s a pretty bad matchup for any pitcher. Fedde — signed this offseason — looked good in his first start but was ailed by a high pitch count.
Crochet is easily the best of the bunch and he has turned into two really nice starts thus far, the first two starts of his career — he had been used strictly as a reliever since debuting in 2020. He throws really hard and has a sharp changeup and slider. Take a closer look at the White Sox on the Sox vs Royals lines when he starts on Sunday.
Chicago might not end up being too competitive in the baseball standings in 2024 but Crochet is a guy to watch for. Every season, some starters pop up kind of out of nowhere — kind of like Ragans after the trade to Kansas City from Texas — to become household names. Crochet has that kind of potential.
