The Kansas City Royals (78-78) and Los Angeles Angels (70-86) meet Tuesday as they swing into a 3-game series. The first pitch from Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California, is slated for 9:38 p.m. ET. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s MLB odds around the Royals vs. Angels odds and make our expert MLB picks and predictions for the best bets.
Season series: Los Angeles leads 2-1
Kansas City heads on the road after a 3-3 homestand. The Royals, who are 5-9 in their last 14 games, have faltered after reaching 4 games over .500 as recently as Sept. 6. K.C. enters Tuesday alive in the race for the postseason, but peg the Royals as being alive yet on life support. The club can only remain in the playoff picture by winning all its remaining games and getting help from others losing.
The Angels, who took 2 of 3 from K.C. earlier this month (Sept. 2-4), are back at home after a dreadful 1-9 road trip. Los Angeles registered a minus-30 run differential in that trip. The Halos head into their final week of the season ranked in MLB’s bottom 6 in both runs scored (4.20) and runs allowed (5.15).
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Royals at Angels projected starters
LHP Cole Ragans vs. LHP Sam Aldegheri
Ragans (2-3, 5.16 ERA) is making his 12th start. He has a 1.26 WHIP, 3.1 BB/9 and 13.8 K/9 through 52 1/3 innings.
- Last outing: No-decision, 3 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 4 K in 7-5 home win vs. Seattle Mariners Wednesday
- Making his second start back off IL (strained rotator cuff); threw 62 pitches against Mariners in his first start back after missing most of June and all of July and August
- Career vs. Angels: 0-3, 6.12 ERA (25 IP, 17 ER), 1.32 WHIP, 7.9 K/9 in 4 starts and 2 relief appearances
Aldegheri (0-0, 10.38 ERA) is making his first start and third appearance. The rookie has allowed 6 hits and 5 walks with 4 K’s through 4 1/3 innings.
- Was recalled from Triple-A Salt Lake Thursday; last pitched in MLB in early June when he made 2 relief appearances
- Has logged 3.82 Minor League ERA this season, pitching mostly at Double-A
- Appearing in his sixth MLB game; has never faced Royals
Royals at Angels odds
Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated at 11:30 a.m. ET.
- Moneyline (ML): Royals -160 (bet $160 to win $100) | Angels +135 (bet $100 to win $135)
- Run line (RL)/Against the spread (ATS): Royals -1.5 (+105) | Angels +1.5 (-125)
- Over/Under (O/U): 9 (O: +100 | U: -120)
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Royals at Angels picks and predictions
Prediction
Royals 5, Angels 3
No interest; PASS.
The Angels are 0-5 across their last 5 series openers.
Ragans owns a 3.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP over his career and has been a solid road hurler over recent years. Per ESPN, he has held current Los Angeles bats to an aggregate .693 OPS.
Aldegheri could be hitting a season fatigue wall as he’s up against an innings jump from previous career norms. And those career norms were established mostly at Double-A and below; he’s only logged a handful of games above that level.
The Royals have the better bullpen; the Angels figure as a bit of a checked-out nine playing out a low-stakes endgame.
TAKE KANSAS CITY -1.5 (+105).
The Under has gone 5-2 across the last 7 series meetings and is 3-1 in the Angels’ last 4 games.
L.A. and K.C. rank 25th and 27th, respectively, in scoring. Ragans clocked a couple solid rehab efforts before returning last week, and he did record 13 swings and misses in that start. Look for the Royals lefty and 2 rested bullpens to make Tuesday’s series opener a low-scoring exchange.
TAKE THE UNDER 9 (-120).
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‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source sportsbookwire.usatoday.com ’
