Tampa Bay Rays at Kansas City Royals Series Preview and Odds

A rough two-week span in the middle of June threatened to neutralize the big cushion the Kansas City Royals had in the AL Wild Card race but, after winning five of their last seven games, the Royals have righted the ship a little as they welcome in the Tampa Bay Rays for a three-game set. The Rays are also playing better baseball lately, having won their last four series. If you’re doing some Rays vs Royals betting, the Royals are -120 moneyline favorites on Tuesday night while the Rays are +155 on the runline to win by two or more runs. The total is a high 9.5 runs.

Kansas City had a big weekend, taking three of four from the AL Central-leading Cleveland Guardians behind some really strong starting pitching.

The rotation has carried the Royals all year, particularly Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans who always make the Royals one of the MLB best bets today when they’re on the mound. Brady Singer — Tuesday’s starter — has also been great, pitching to a 3.12 ERA thus far after a disappointing 2023 campaign.

Michael Wacha and Alec Marsh are solid Nos. 4 and 5 in the rotation and they’ll pitch the final two games.

The Rays are four games behind the Royals for the third AL Wild Card spot after taking two of three from the Washington Nationals this weekend.

Tampa Bay’s rotation has also stepped up lately and has a solid projected lineup for this week as Zack Littell, Ryan Pepiot and Zach Eflin are scheduled to throw. None of them have been incredible but they give Tampa Bay a chance to win whenever they take the rubber.

Royals’ Lineup Needs To Show Up

A key component of a Rays vs Royals betting decision is figuring out how to make sense of the Kansas City offense which is solidly in the middle-of-the-pack in pretty much all offensive categories but does boast one of baseball’s best all-around players in Bobby Witt Jr. and has three major power threats between him, Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez. Those three, plus Michael Massey, are far and away Kansas City’s three-best hitters.

Unfortunately, there’s a big gap between them and the rest of the lineup and that top-heaviness has contributed to some major scoring outages during June. But, after a big series against Cleveland, the hope is that the Royals can turn the page offensively to properly back up what has been an awesome rotation.

There’s also concern about the Kansas City bullpen which is dead-last in the Majors in strikeout rate and allows the third-most hits per nine innings. That combined is concerning especially if the Royals want to be involved in the MLB playoff schedule in a few months. They really need to figure out the reliever situation and that late-game uncertainly should bode well for the Rays this week.

How Will Rays Generate Offense?

Scoring hasn’t come easy for Tampa Bay either as the Rays are 23rd in runs scored, 23rd in OPS and 25th in home runs. Somehow, they’ve managed to play .500 ball without particularly impressive offense, defense or pitching thus far. So, on paper, Rays vs Royals betting should favor Kansas City but there are some reasons to like Tampa Bay to make this a competitive series.

First, Randy Arozarena — who got off to a nightmare start this year — is starting to heat up. He had a .893 OPS in June and has brought his OPS+ over 90 despite still having a sub-.200 batting average.

You just know that someone of his caliber can’t be held down for an entire season and the signs of a rebound are starting to become apparent. Brandon Lowe is finally healthy and had a good month, Yandy Díaz hit .325 in June and just had a 20-game hitting streak snapped and Ben Rortvedt has nine RBIs in his last five games. The overall numbers don’t look great yet the recent returns have been promising.

Today’s MLB odds may not love the Rays which makes sense with Littell facing off against Singer on Tuesday night. However, Tampa Bay is a much better team it has shown on the whole this season and may finally be showing that on the field.

Take Rays Straight-Up

• With all that said, the Rays as +102 moneyline underdogs are a good bet on Tuesday.

Littell may not be having the kind of season that Singer is but he has allowed three runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts and he has faced a lot of really good offenses over the past month and a half.

The Royals are talented yet they don’t have the kind of depth that turns a decent lineup into a really good one. Plus, the Rays’ bats are starting to come around too.

• The under 9.5 runs (-122) is intriguing as well. That’s a pretty high figure for two teams without world-beating offensive numbers against two decent starters.

For MLB betting news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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