Thursday’s matchup between the Blue Jays and Royals is set for 2:10 PM from Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. The forecast calls for cloudy skies and temperatures in the upper 50s. Toronto comes in with a record of 13-12, while the Royals are 15-10.
Thursday’s starting pitching matchup features Jose Berrios for the Blue Jays and Cole Ragans for the Royals. Kansas City is the slight favorite on the money line at -121. The over/under line is at 8 runs.
KANSAS CITY ROYALS VS TORONTO BLUE JAYS BETTING PICK
The Pick: Kansas City Royals Moneyline -121
This game will be played at Kauffman Stadium at 2:10 ET on Thursday, April 25th.
HOW TO BET THE BLUE JAYS VS ROYALS:
- We have the Royals winning by a score of 5 to 4
- If you’re looking for a run line pick, we also like the Royals to cover
- As for an over/under pick, we have this game finishing with 9 runs and like the over
Thanks to a two-run 5th inning for the Royals’ offense, they were able to pick up a 3-2 win over the Blue Jays in the most recent game of this series. Heading into the game, the Royals were at +114 on the money line.
Kansas City got to Blue Jays starter Yariel Rodriguez, scoring three runs in just four innings against him. As for the Royals, they got a good outing from Alec Marsh, who gave up just two hits and no earned runs across 4 1/3 innings of work.
After Marsh exited the game, John Schreiber got the win out of the bullpen for the Royals, and James McArthur got the save. Rodriguez took the loss for Toronto.
Blue Jays Records & Stats
Toronto is on the road today vs. the Royals, and the Blue Jays are looking to get back to .500, as they are currently 13-12 this season. The Blue Jays have lost two straight games, and they are in 4th place in the AL East, four games behind the Yankees. In the division, the Blue Jays are 5-5.
So far, the Blue Jays have been good at home, going 6-3, and they are just below .500 at 7-9 on the road. Toronto has won four straight games when favored, and they are 10-5 when favored this year. As the underdog, the Blue Jays are 3-7. Their overall series record is 4-2-1, and they have won four straight series.
When the Blue Jays are on the road this season, they have a run line record of 8-8. Their average run differential in those games is -0.8. They have failed to cover the run line in their last two road games and are 4-6 against the run line as the underdog. Their average run differential in their wins is +3.2, while it is -4.5 in their losses.
The Blue Jays have an over/under record of 10-14 this season, and their games have averaged 8.1 runs per game. Their over/under record when the line is set at 8 runs is 5-3-1. Their games have had over/under lines set at 8 runs in 52.0% of their games this season. Their games have gone under the over/under line in their last three games.
José Berríos will be making his 4th start of the season for the Blue Jays, and it will be his 2nd road start. He has been excellent in his first 3 outings, going 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA. In his last start, he went 6 innings and struck out 6 while giving up 5 hits and 2 walks.
So far this season, the Blue Jays are averaging 3.8 runs per game, which is 22nd in the league. They have been a better offensive team at home, averaging 4.1 runs per game. As a team, they are batting just .232, and their team on-base percentage of .317 is 12th in the league. Toronto’s offense has been good at not striking out, as they have the 4th fewest strikeouts in the league.
Justin Turner comes into the game with a team-high batting average of .319, and he is also 2nd on the team with 12 RBIs. Daulton Varsho has been hot of late, going 10/28 in his last nine games, with four homers and eight RBIs. Varsho is also on a five-game hitting streak.
Royals Records & Stats
Kansas City is 15-10 overall, and they have won two straight games, closing out their series vs. the Blue Jays with two wins. Looking at the AL Central, the Royals are in 2nd place and are 2.5 games behind the Guardians. Against other teams in the AL Central, they have gone 7-3.
So far, the Royals have been good at home, going 11-5, and they are 4-5 on the road. As the underdog, Kansas City has gone 9-7 this season and has won two straight games as the underdog. Their overall series record is 3-4.
The Royals have been a solid team to back on the run line this season, as they are 15-10 overall. They have been especially good at home, going 10-6 on the run line. Their average run margin for the season is +1.5, and they have been able to cover the run line in their last two games. They have covered the run line in six of their last eight games as the underdog.
The Royals are 8-16 on the over/under this season, and their games have averaged 7.8 runs per game. The over/under line for today’s game is set at 8 runs, and the O/U record for games with that line is 2-1. The Royals have had 19 games with higher over/under lines than 8 runs, and their games have gone under the total in four straight contests.
Cole Ragans will be making his 4th start of the season for the Royals, and he’ll be looking to pick up his first win. He has 8 strikeouts in each of his first two starts, and he has only allowed 1 home run on the year. Ragans’ last start was a loss to the Orioles, where he went just 1 2/3 innings and gave up 7 runs.
Salvador Perez has been one of the league’s top power hitters so far this season, as his six home runs are 5th in the league and the best mark on the Royals. Perez also comes into the game with the team’s best batting average (.348) and has gone 8/18 in his last five games. Bobby Witt Jr. has also been swinging a hot bat of late, going 3/13 in his last five games and is batting .317 for the season.
As a team, the Royals are averaging 4.7 runs per game and are one of the league’s top home run hitting teams. However, they have been striking out at a high rate and have a collective on-base percentage of just .306. Overall, they are batting .239, which is 13th in the league.
