Overview
The Kansas City Royals are in Chicago for a three game series with division rivals the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox haven’t had much luck versus the Royals of late losing 7 of the last 8 meetings including 5 of the last 6 played in Chicago.
Head to Head Trends
Royals are 37-18 in the last 55 meetings.
Royals are 23-8 in the last 31 meetings in Chicago.
The Chicago White Sox are 4th in the American League Central 3.5 games back of the 1st place Cleveland Indians. It don’t seem all that long ago that the White Sox were in 1st place and looking like the best team in baseball but over the past month or so they have been horrible winning just 6 of their last 24 games.
The White Sox slump has been a combination of poor hitting and poor pitching. Over their last 10 games they are batting just .204 as a team and averaging 3.30 runs per game and their pitching has also been equally as bad allowing 5.50 runs per game.
On the hill for the White Sox today is lefty Chris Sale who is 9-2 with a 2.54 ERA on the season. Sale looked great in his first 9 starts of the season but he’s been a little out of sorts over his last 3 starts going 0-2 with a 6.48 ERA.
Chicago White Sox Trends
White Sox are 7-20 in their last 27 overall.
White Sox are 10-3 in Sales last 13 starts.
Kansas City Royals (+160)
The Kansas City Royals are 2nd in the American League Central 3 games out of 1st place. The Royals were playing some great ball up until about a week ago. Over their last 7 games the Royals are 0-7 and have been outscored 42-8.
The Royals are obviously not pitching very well right now but the thing that stands out the most is how bad their hitting has been. In all my years betting sports I don’t think I have ever seen something like this but looking at the stats over their last 5 games the Royals are averaging just 0.60 runs per game which is almost unheard of to be that bad.
Starting for the Royals today is Ian Kennedy who is 4-4 with a 3.44 ERA on the season. Kennedy has been solid for the most part this season although he has had a few games where he has been hit pretty hard.
Kansas City Royals Trends
Royals are 0-7 in their last 7 overall.
Royals are 7-21 in their last 28 road games.
Conclusion
I’m going with the Chicago White Sox over the Royals in this one. Usually I would try to avoid a team like the White Sox who are in a pretty good slump right now but the Royals are in one of the worst hitting slumps I have ever seen and I don’t see things getting any better for them tonight going up against a dominant pitcher like Chris Sale.
Free Pick: Chris Sale
