Kansas City owns the best record in the American League and is the most profitable team in baseball after their beatdown of the Orioles on Tuesday, their eighth straight win over the Orioles, which includes a sweep in last year’s ALCS. Barring a major collapse, the Kansas City Royals are on their way to their first division title since 1985.
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Royals are well on their way to the AL Central title and the playoffs for a second straight season. It’s also becoming apparent that they won’t be facing the Orioles there again. With a huge lead in the division and the best record in the league, it’s looking very likely that Kansas City will be a division winner for the first time since 1985. The Royals made their first playoff appearance since that year last season and swept the Orioles in the ALCS en route to the World Series. KC won its eighth straight game over the O’s with Tuesday’s 3-2 victory. It was the Royals’ 14th win in 18 games and 12th in 14 at home. Kansas City is the most profitable team in baseball, in the black 26.56 units, thanks to a 44-20 record at Kauffman Stadium that has them up 19.78 units in games played there. Baltimore’s poor road showing has a lot to do with their placement in the standings. The O’s lost their sixth straight overall Tuesday and fourth in a row away from Camden Yards. They fell to 23-37 on the road, down 12.99 units for the season.
PITCHING MATCHUP
Chris Tillman (9-8, 4.51 ERA) had his streak of seven straight winning decisions end in his start Saturday, a 3-2 loss to the Twins. He pitched well giving up three runs on four hits in 6.2 innings taking his first loss since May 31. The righty has turned his season around going 4-1 with a 2.35 ERA over his last nine starts, lowering his ERA from 6.22 to 4.51 in that stretch.
Tillman has a bloated 6.21 ERA, allowing eight home runs and 33 hits across 29 innings in five starts against the Royals. He will face them for the first time this season.
Six’s were wild for Yordano Ventura (8-7, 4.64 ERA) in his last start when he gave up six hits with six strikeouts in six innings in his third straight quality start. He allowed just one run knocking off Boston Saturday for his third consecutive win. The young righty has been electric in his last three starts, permitting just three runs with 21 strikeouts over 19 innings.
Ventura last faced the O’s in Game 2 of the 2014 ALCS when he lasted 5.2 innings giving up five hits and four runs. He owns a 1.26 ERA with 17 Ks in 14.1 over two regular season starts.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“Good breaking ball. Good fastball. Good changeup. It looks to me like he’s starting to get his swagger back. He’s executing his pitches and getting his confidence back.” – Royals manager Ned Yost after Ventura tossed six sharp innings Saturday against Boston
LIVE BETTING or SITUATIONAL BETTING
A slumping offense continues to plague the Orioles as they fall further back in the race for a playoff spot. The O’s scored 15 runs and batted .225 during a season-high six-game losing streak to fall below .500 for the first time since July 26 with Tuesday’s defeat. Several of their top offensive players are slumping at an inopportune time. Chris Davis went 0 for 4 Tuesday to extend his hitless skid to 16 at-bats with nine strikeouts, while Manny Machado is batting .154 during the team’s six-game slide. “We’ve just got to figure out a way to score more runs,” manager Buck Showalter said.
PROP TALK
Mike Moustakas is on a roll and so are the Royals. The third baseman hit a game-tying two-run homer Monday, allowing KC to come back for the win, and he had an RBI single Tuesday to extend his hitting streak to six games. During the run Moose is batting .375 with three homers and eight RBIs. Moustakas has three hits, including a home run, in eight lifetime at-bats against Tillman,
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
The Royals are in one of those streaks where everything seems to go right. Pitchers getting out of jams, clutch two-out base hits and sparkling defensive plays. KC has done it all season and as we near the finish line they can taste victory. It doesn’t hurt that they’ve also owned the Orioles recently, with eight straight wins following Tuesday’s victory, six of them coming at home. The O’s are too good, though, to get beaten up by the Royals for long. Tillman has pitched well the second half of the season and Baltimore will start hitting.
Baltimore 6, Kansas City 3
BookMaker will be the first online sportsbook to send out the baseball odds for this marquee matchup. BookMaker is going to have multiple betting options available for this nationally-televised baseball matchup. Live wagering during commercials offers an adjusted moneyline, individual inning run totals and next hitter results. Log in and start gambling during the game now!
Need to fund your account before the big game but don’t have your computer? No problem, BookMaker Sportsbook now offers a mobile betting cashier so you can deposit money directly from your smartphone. Don’t miss out on getting paid because you couldn’t bet, click here and deposit at BookMaker now! The ballgame between the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals will take place Thursday, August 27, 2015, at 2:10 p.m. ET at Kauffman Stadium. You can watch the contest live on the MLB Network.
