Tampa Bay Rays (51-41) vs. Kansas City Royals (36-56)
July 22, 2022 8:10 pm EDT
The Line: Kansas City Royals -115 / Tampa Bay Rays -108; Over/Under: +9
(Get latest betting odds)
The Tampa Bay Rays and the Kansas City Royals meet in MLB action from Kauffman Stadium on Friday night.
The Tampa Bay Rays will be out to make up ground in the AL Wild Card and try to make a run at the AL East title starting in the second half. Wander Franco has 59 hits along with 5 home runs and 23 RBIs as well as a .260 batting average while Franco has 12 doubles and Randy Arozarena also has a team-high 86 hits and a team-high 20 doubles and Isaac Paredes has a team-high 13 home runs and 28 RBIs. Manuel Margot has 27 RBIs and a .302 batting average of his own and Kevin Kiermaier has 7 home runs of his own while Yandy Diaz has a .294 batting average as well on the year. Ji-Man Choi also has 41 RBIs up to this point. Drew Rasmussen will start here and is
The Kansas City Royals will try to save some face and put forth a strong second half to finish .500 or better at the very least. Andrew Benintendi leads the Royals with 102 hits along with a .317 batting average and 37 RBIs while Salvador Perez has 11 home runs and 34 RBIs of his own. Perez has 13 doubles and Hunter Dozier has 18 doubles as well as 3 triples and Bobby Witt Jr. has 18 doubles as well on the year. Witt Jr. also has a team-high 5 triples with 13 home runs and 47 RBIs as well while Benintendi also has a pair of triples and Whit Merrifield has 18 doubles and 36 RBIs as well this season. The Royals did not have a starting pitcher announced at the time that this article was posted.
Tampa Bay is 6-1 in their last 7 games overall and 2-4 in their last 6 road games while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games overall. Kansas City is 2-4 in their last 6 games overall and 4-1 in their last 5 home games.
I get the case to be made either way here, but I’m going to lean towards the Rays here. Simply put, the Rays are the better team by a fair margin and while Drew Rasmussen had his fair share of stumbles back in late-May or Early June, the reality is that he’s still a better option than most of, if not all of, the starting options that the Royals have. I think this is just a spot where you back the better team at a great price so give me the Rays here.
