Both the Kansas City Royals (26-14 SU, +11.56 Units) and the St. Louis Cardinals (27-14 SU, +11.30 Units) have been very kind to bettors this year. These two teams have combined to earn their backers 22.86 units on the moneyline and 30.18 units on the run-line this year. Live betting could feature a ton of great opportunities for both clubs on Saturday.
PITCHING MATCHUP
There's still no guarantee as to who is starting on Saturday for the Royals, as it could be either Jason Vargas or Danny Duffy on the bump. Duffy is the supposed starter for the time being, so we'll just plan on him.
If that's the case, we're planning for the worst. Duffy has been awful by every metric imaginable. He needed to throw 113 pitches just to get through five innings in his last start, and he has averaged almost 20 pitches per inning this season.
The lefty has lost three straight starts, allowing 14 runs in 9.2 innings in that stretch, and right-handed hitting his been particularly rough on him. Now enters a St. Louis team with some really big right-handed bats, a unit which has crushed left-handed pitching at times this season.
Don't let that .248 batting average against lefties fool you; the Cards can mash Duffy's head in if the southpaw isn't careful.
There's no debate that John Lackey will be on the mound on Saturday for the Cardinals, but there is a debate whether he is anywhere near as good as his last four starts have shown.
In that stretch, Lackey has allowed a total of just five runs over 26.0 innings of work, but he also has a BABIP of just .211 in that run. Clearly, batters are going to improve, and against a Kansas City team averaging over five runs per game, disaster could strike.
Betting against these two men early in live betting might not be a bad idea.
ADVANCED STATS
The Cardinals have five different men, Matt Holliday, Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, Jhonny Peralta and Yadier Molina all batting over .290 this season. Normally speaking, we would default to say that this could never keep up, but when you look at the fact that these men are all getting on base a done via balls, perhaps it is entire attainable to keep these high splits up.
Duffy has been sloppy of late throwing strikes, as is shown by his gaudy pitch counts, and a St. Louis team with a walk percentage of 8.1 percent for the season and 9.4 percent over the course of the last week could certainly take advantage. As soon as you see Duffy struggling with his command (which could be very early on), that could be your cue to back the Cardinals' bats, as you know that big innings could be right around the corner.
TALKING BULLPENS
It doesn't get much better than what these two bullpens have managed to do this year. The Cardinals have a 2.28 ERA out of their pen this year, though we don't need any advanced metrics to know how scary Trevor Rosenthal has been at times this season trying to close out games.
The Royals though, are just scoffing at those stats. Heading into Friday, the defending AL champs have a 1.61 bullpen ERA, and they are allowing batters to hit just .181 against them.
It's not like Kansas City hasn't faced good lineups in clutch situations either. Obviously an LOB percentage of 88.4 percent isn't going to keep up all season long, but that's a great indication of just how good this unit has been when called into duty.
The MLB odds for this game will be available first at BookMaker Sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every half inning with BookMaker's live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen in the next at-bat or how many runs will be scored in the next inning. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
Load your betting bankroll from your smartphone with BookMaker's new cashier feature! Depositing and withdrawing funds from your account has never been easier. BookMaker's live betting platform means you always have access to odds and lines to every sporting event. Click here, and start wagering today!
