The Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers are locked in a tie at 7-9 in the AL Central. One of the two teams will get a leg up on the other by the end of their mid-week series. They’ll face each other in a three-game set in Detroit starting tonight.
Let’s dive into the odds and my best bets for tonight’s opener.
Royals vs. Tigers Odds, Run Line, and Total
Run Line
- Royals +1.5 (-205)
- Tigers -1.5 (+168)
Moneyline
Total
- OVER 7.5 (-120)
- UNDER 7.5 (-102)
Royals vs. Tigers Probable Pitchers
- Kansas City: Cole Ragans, LHP (0-3, 5.91 ERA)
- Detroit: Framber Valdez, LHP (1-1, 4.76 ERA)
Royals vs. Tigers How to Watch
- Date: Tuesday, April 14
- Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
- Venue: Comerica Park
- How to Watch (TV): Royals.TV, Detroit SportsNet
- Royals record: 7-9
- Tigers record: 7-9
Royals vs. Tigers Best Prop Bet
- Kevin McGonigle Home Run (+880)
In today’s edition of Daily Dinger, I wrote about why I think Kevin McGonigle is a great bet to hit a home run:
Kevin McGonigle has only hit one home run this season, but he’s leading the Detroit Tigers in slugging percentage this season at .508. He should be in a great spot to hit his second home run of the season tonight when he and the Tigers take on the Royals, who will be starting Cole Ragans on the mound. Ragans has allowed 2.5 home runs per nine innings pitched this season, the seventh-highest rate amongst MLB starters so far in 2026.
Royals vs. Tigers Prediction and Pick
On Day 100 of Betting $100 Every Day for a Year, I broke down why I’m putting $30 on the Tigers to win as home favorites:
I’m surprised to see the Tigers aren’t bigger favorites in this one. Let’s start with the two offenses. The Tigers come into tonight’s game ranking 12th in the Majors in wRC+, while the Royals rank 23rd.
I’d also make the argument that the Tigers have an advantage on the mound with Framber Valdez (4.76 ERA), taking on Cole Ragans (5.91 ERA).
Finally, Detroit has a bullpen ERA of 3.24, while the Royals have one of the worst bullpen ERAs in baseball at 5.47.
All of that points to the Tigers being worth a bet at -122.
Pick: Tigers -122 via FanDuel
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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 www.si.com ’
