The Kansas City Royals and the Los Angeles Dodgers square off Friday in MLB action from Dodger Stadium. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a LA Dodgers vs Kansas City Royals Prediction.
Starting Pitching Matchup
The Kansas City Royals will send out Cole Ragans for the start here and Ragans is 4-4 with a 3.08 ERA and 98 strikeouts this season. This will be Ragans’ first career start against the Dodgers. The Los Angeles Dodgers will send out Gavin Stone for the start here and Stone is 7-2 with a 2.93 ERA and 53 strikeouts this season. This will be Stone’s first career start against the Royals.
Kansas City Royals Recap
The Kansas City Royals come into this one looking to bounce back after their series loss against the Yankees despite salvaging a 4-3 win over New York in Thursday’s series finale. The series loss meant the Royals would be unable to build on their series win over the Seattle Mariners last weekend.
Royals Still Have Pop In The Bats
Bobby Witt Jr. leads the Royals with 93 hits including 11 home runs, 50 RBIs and team-highs of 7 triples and 19 doubles with 19 stolen bases. Salvador Perez also has 10 home runs with 42 RBIs and 15 doubles. Nelson Velazquez also has a team-high 60 strikeouts while Maikel Garcia has 5 home runs, 38 RBIs and 16 stolen bases along with 3 triples and 14 doubles this season. Vinnie Pasquantino has 19 doubles with 7 homers and 46 RBIs of his own on the year.
Why the Kansas City Royals will win
- The underdogs have won four of the Dodgers’ last five games.
- The Dodgers have lost each of their last three games as favorites after playing the previous day.
- The Dodgers have failed to cover the run line in eight of their last nine home games against American League opponents that held a winning record.
- The underdogs have covered the run line in five of the Dodgers’ last six games.
- The Dodgers have trailed after 3 innings in four of their last five games as favorites against AL Central opponents.
- The Dodgers have trailed after 5 innings in four of their last five games as home favorites against American League opponents.
Los Angeles Dodgers Recap
The Los Angeles Dodgers come into this one looking to bounce back from their series loss against the Texas Rangers last time out following a 3-1 loss in Thursday’s series finale. The series loss meant that the Dodgers would be unable to follow up their series win over the New York Yankees from last weekend’s marquee series.
Dodgers Still Have Loaded Lineup
Shohei Ohtani has 82 hits including a team-high 17 home runs, 18 doubles and 44 RBIs with a .306 batting average while Mookie Betts has 84 hits with 16 doubles, 3 triples, 10 homers and 40 RBIs of his own. Teoscar Hernandez also has 17 home runs with 50 RBIs and a team-high 83 strikeouts. Betts also has 9 stolen bases while Ohtani has a team-high 15 stolen bases. Freddie Freeman also has 41 RBIs with 19 doubles and Will Smith has added 16 doubles, 10 home runs and 42 RBIs.
Why the Los Angeles Dodgers will win
- The Dodgers have won each of their last nine Friday games against American League opponents.
- The Royals have lost each of their last six games against National League opponents following a win.
- The Royals have failed to cover the run line in each of their last seven night games against National League opponents.
- The Dodgers have covered the run line in six of their last seven games against American League opponents following a loss.
- The Royals have trailed after 3 innings in each of their last four night games.
- The Royals have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last four road games against National League opponents that held a winning record.
- The Royals have lost the first inning in each of their last four night games.
LA Dodgers vs Kansas City Royals Prediction
I’m on the Dodgers here. I like Cole Ragans a lot and what he’s brought to the table and it’s hard to pass on plus money with Kansas City. However, Ragans can pitch as well as he wants, but unless he’s going a complete game, it’s hard to trust the Royals with the state of this bullpen for KC, and I do think the Dodgers get to Ragans as they’ve hit lefties hard all season. The Royals have just hit a bumpy patch, and they’ll get out of it, but right now it’s just hard to ignore the Dodgers and the reasonable price in this matchup.