Royals-Giants odds, prediction: Look for hot bats to stay on fire
The Major League Baseball season is one week old and we’re already seeing things that don’t make sense. Why else would we be offering a prediction on Friday’s San Francisco Giants-Kansas City Royals game?
It is the Giants’ home opener; it is the first road trip for the Royals. So why would we be throwing a softball so early in baseball season?
Because two things make it clear that a wager needs to take place on this afternoon matchup in the Bay Area: The Giants are hitting the cover off the ball while Royals can’t find the seams of a off-speed pitch.
You can guess right now which team we’re going to pick, but there’s some interesting value worth the wait.
All odds via BetMGM
Spread: Royals +1.5 (-140) vs. Giants -1.5 (+115)
Moneyline: Royals (+145) vs. Giants (-175)
Total: Over 8 (-110) | Under 8 (-110)
Giants -1.5 (+115)
Why the Giants (3-3) are hitting so well after a week is a mystery. Their 13 homers against the White Sox tied a franchise record — including the New York Giants — for most home runs in a three-game series while taking two of three games at the Chicago.
They hit five alone in Thursday’s 16-6 victory. That gave them 15 homers overall this season, the most in franchise history through six games.
Five Giants lead the team with two homers each, including light-hitting Mike Yastremzski, newly acquired Michael Conforto and David Villar, who still qualifies as a rookie.
The Royals (1-5) are a polar opposite through six games. They already have been shut out twice and they’ve scored more than four runs once — and that was the only victory, a 9-5 win over the Blue Jays.
Among players with more than 15 at-bats, only Edward Olivares (. 267) and Salvador Perez (. 261) have batting averages higher than .250. That includes budding star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., whose two hits Thursday lifted his average to .154.
The pitching matchup looks lopsided as well. Though Giants starter Alex Cobb lasted only 3⅔ innings — likely shortened as a precautionary measure for knee soreness in spring training — and allowed two earned runs against the New York Yankees on Saturday, he struck out six batters.
That falls in line with his performance last season when he struck out 151 batters over 149 ⅔ innings.
While Royals starter Brad Keller may have lasted longer than Cobb (4⅔ innings) in his first start and also struck out six, he walked four batters and allowed five hits. That averages to a 1.93 WHIP, which is a lot for a starter.
Both pitchers have no history against either club, with Keller facing two Giants catchers in the past (Roberto Perez and Gary Sanchez) while Cobb has pitched against three Royals and only had problems with Salvador Perez (.444 batting average).
One caveat: The Giants have been feast or famine, getting shut out in two of their three losses. However, last season this team hit better at home (.322) than away (.309) and they were only hitting .263 on that six-game road trip.
The Giants’ bats are trending higher than tech stocks and expect them to hit a spike during the team’s Oracle Park opener. Go with the home team, fade Keller, give the runs (-1.5) and reap the odds (+115).
The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.
