Baltimore Orioles vs. Kansas City Royals MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 7/16/2021
Baltimore Orioles (28-61) vs. Kansas City Royals (36-53)
July 16, 2021 8:10 pm EDT
The Line: Kansas City Royals -152 / Baltimore Orioles +142; Over/Under: 10
(Get latest betting odds)
The Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals meet in MLB action from Kauffman Stadium on Friday night.
The Baltimore Orioles will try to bounce back and save some face in the second half of the season, currently sitting in the cellar of the AL East at 28-61, 25 games out of first place and a whopping 18 games behind Toronto and the Yankees who are tied for 3rd in the division. Cedric Mullins leads the O’s with a .314 batting average and 106 hits with 23 doubles and 3 triples. Mullins shares the team ead in home runs with potential comeback player of the year, Trey Mancini, as Mancini and Mullins each have 16 home runs with Mancini leading the O’s with 55 RBIs. Ryan Mountcastle has 14 home runs but also leads Baltimore with 94 strikeouts this season. Keegan Akin is expected to start here and is 0-4 with a 7.54 ERA and 44 strikeouts this season. This will be Akin’s first career start against the Royals.
The Kansas City Royals will attempt to make up some ground of their own, also sitting in the basement of their division at 36-52 and 18 games off of the pace of the division leading white Sox. Salvador Perez leads the Royals with a .275 batting average, 21 home runs and 53 RBIs but also has a team-high 98 strikeouts this season. Whit Merrifield has 95 hits with a team-high 20 doubles while Perez has a team-high 96 hits and Nicky Lopez leads KC with 3 triples. The Royals did not have a starting pitcher announced at the time that this article was posted.
Baltimore is 19-46 in their last 65 road games and 18-47 in their last 65 games against the AL Central while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 series-opening games. Kansas City is 20-44 in their last 64 games overall and 27-60 in their last 87 games against the AL East while the over is 4-1-1 in their last 6 series-opening games. The over is 4-0 in the last 4 meetings between these two teams in Kansas City.
I get the case that could be made either way here as both teams are struggling but I’m not rushing to back Keegan Akin and the Orioles and the Royals you never know what you’re going to get sometimes and when you do, it’s likely a loss. Is it possible to have a game where nobody wins? Either way, I’m going to side with the over. Both teams have pop in the bats but the starting pitching matchup does nothing for me here. Give me the over.
