Kansas City Royals vs Cleveland Guardians Prediction 9-18-23 MLB Picks

The Cleveland Guardians and the Kansas City Royals meet Monday in MLB action from Kauffman Stadium. Cleveland is fresh off a matchup versus the Rangers. After wins in the first two games, on Sunday in the finale the Guardians took a blowout victory for the sweep. As for Kansas City, they played the Astros over the weekend. The Royals also won the first pair, then on Sunday KC fell by six runs. Check back all season long for free MLB picks at Sports Chat Place. 

Cleveland Guardians 

The Guardians blew past the Rangers in their Friday opener 12-3, then eked out a 2-1 win in game two. Steven Kwan and Tyler Freeman each had an RBI in the game two win. On Sunday Cleveland scored all of their runs in a wild fourth inning on the way to a 9-2 victory. Andres Gimenez had three RBI, and both Jose Ramirez (homer) and Gabriel Arias had two. 

In the starter role for the Guardians on Monday it’ll be Cal Quantrill. Over his 16 starts this year Quantrill is 3-6 with a 5.40 ERA and 48 Ks in 85.0 innings. Quantrill is 1-4 with a 7.41 ERA over his last 34.0 innings and seven starts. 

Cleveland Guardians Team Facts

The Guardians have lost five of their last six games as favorites following a win.
The underdogs have covered the run line in each of the Guardians' last eight games.
The Guardians have lost the first inning in three of their last four games as favorites against AL Central opponents.
The 'Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs' market has hit in each of the Guardians' last seven games at Kauffman Stadium.
The Guardians have trailed after 3 innings in four of their last five games as favorites against AL Central opponents.

Kansas City Royals 

Over on the Royals’ side, they powered out a 4-2 win over the Astros in their weekend opener, then won 10-8 in game two thanks to two RBI from both Salvador Perez and Nelson Velazquez. On Sunday Kansas City couldn’t get much of anything going on six team hits in a 7-1 loss. Drew Waters provided the lone RBI.

As starting pitcher for Monday’s game, the Royals are going with Brady Singer. This year in his 28 starts Singer is 8-11 with a 5.51 ERA and 129 Ks in 153.2 innings. Singer is 2-3 with a 5.63 ERA in his last seven starts. 

Kansas City Royals Team Facts

The Royals have won five of their last six games as underdogs against AL Central opponents.
The Royals have covered the run line in seven of their last eight games as home underdogs against AL Central opponents.
The Royals have led after 7 innings in five of their last six games as underdogs against AL Central opponents.
The Royals have led after 3 innings in each of their last three games as home underdogs against AL Central opponents.
The Royals have led after 5 innings in four of their last five games as underdogs against American League opponents.

Matchup/League Facts

The Kansas City Royals rank 2nd in the league for triples this season (39).
The Kansas City Royals rank 29th in the league for walks this season (377).
The Cleveland Guardians rank 30th in the league for home runs this season (115).
The Cleveland Guardians rank 1st in the league for strikeouts against this season (1055).

ANDREW’S FREE PICK 

I’ll stick with the Guardians here. Quantrill is pitching very well in September so far. Over his three starts this month, Quantrill is 1-0 with 18.0 total innings, three earned runs, 10 hits and eight walks total. He should be able to work into quality start territory at least if all goes well here. On Sunday the Guardians didn’t connect with the scoreboard outside of that wild fourth inning, but that was more than enough. Cleveland has now won four of their last five games and scored three or more runs in five of their last six. I like the Guardians to keep it up in this series as well.