Cleveland Guardians (51-27) at Kansas City Royals (44-38)
Game Info: Thursday, June 27th, 2024 at 8:10 p.m. EST (TD Garden)
Betting Odds: Guardians ML (-115) - Over/Under (8.5)
Pick: Guardians ML (-115)
The top two teams in the American League Central will meet for the second time in the regular season, as the Cleveland Guardians hit the road to play the Kansas City Royals throughout the weekend. This will be a very pivotal four game series for both of these teams as both teams will look to build momentum and get themselves into a better position within the playoff standings throughout the last weekend of June.
Cleveland has been playing tremendous baseball as of late and they are coming off of a third consecutive series victory against a rather important American League opponent. As they took two out of three games from the Baltimore Orioles throughout the week, and they will look to capitalize on that momentum throughout the weekend against Kansas City. Everybody has been surprised at the success of Cleveland this season as many people expect them to be one of the worst teams of the league, but they have been the best team in the American League so far this season.
Getting the start for Cleveland in this one will be Ben Lively who has put together a respectable season throughout the early part of the year. He comes into this game with seven victories to his name, and he will look to pick up his eighth victory of the season here on Thursday night against Kansas City. Cleveland comes into this game as winners of seven out of their last eight on the season and they will look to pick up a victory in this series opener against Kansas City two remain in the driver's seat against the Royals this year as well.
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The Kansas City Royals are another team that has taken the baseball world by surprise with their hot start to the season. However, as of late things have started to tail off for Kansas City as they spent the majority of the year in second place in the American League Central division. As they now find themselves sliding down the standings throughout the summer. This will be a pivotal series for the Kansas City Royals as they look to reestablish themselves as a potential playoff team this season with some quality victories over a top team in the league. This series feels like a pivotal turning point of the year for the Kansas City Royals. Which means they will have to find a way to be successful if they want to keep themselves in the playoff conversation.
Although Kansas City is coming into this game after picking up a victory on Wednesday, they have lost seven out of their last ten on the season and they will look to get things going in the right direction once again. They still come into this game six games above .500 with a record of 44-38, and Michael Wacha gets the ball tonight looking to grab win number 45 for the team. He is having a below average year, posting a 4-6 record and 4.07 Earned Run Average, so it will be just as important for him to get back on track throughout the rest of the season as well. Wacha is certainly capable of delivering great performances, and he will need to find that here tonight to shut down a solid Cleveland lineup that has been terrorizing baseball throughout the first few months of the year.
Betting trends to consider in this matchup:
- Cleveland is 25-18 on the road
- Cleveland is 23-12 against teams above .500
- Kansas City is 17-23 against teams above .500
I expect this to be a close and competitive match up throughout the early stages of the game on Thursday night in Kansas City. However, in the end I do look for Cleveland to pick up a victory in the opening of this series and snap their one game losing streak with another divisional win. Despite losing to Baltimore in the series finale yesterday, Cleveland has been one of the hottest teams in baseball and they have all the momentum coming into this series. I do not see that changing throughout the opening game, as I look for Cleveland to grab a comfortable victory by the time the final pitch is thrown.
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