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In sports, 12 years is a long time, and the landscape can change dramatically in that time. That fall, the San Francisco Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals in a seven-game thriller to claim their third World Series title in five years. <\/p>\n
Now, no player who appeared in that series is still active besides Salvador Perez, and since then, both teams have come upon bad fortune. The Giants have made the playoffs twice since that magical season, and while the Royals won the World Series the following season, their only other playoff appearance came in 2024. <\/p>\n
At 2:10 p.m. ET this afternoon, Kansas City will hope to finish out a sweep of San Francisco in a low-stakes series between two of the league\u2019s worst teams. Landen Roupp will start for the Giants, and Seth Lugo will crest the hill for the Royals.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s break down this clash with some odds and lines at DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n It was only five seasons ago that San Francisco broke the Los Angeles Dodgers\u2019 stranglehold on the NL West, winning 107 games, but over the following four campaigns, they were almost perfectly mediocre, finishing within four games of .500 in each season. Through 28 games this season, the Giants were 13-15, but once the losing started, it never stopped, and they\u2019re currently 42-59, just two games ahead of the Colorado Rockies for the worst record in the National League. San Francisco has been losing despite having baseball\u2019s 15th-best offense; while Rafael Devers has had one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, he\u2019s still been solid overall, and free agency acquisition Luis Arr\u00e1ez has managed his highest OPS+. However, unlike in previous seasons, the Giants haven\u2019t pitched well, as their bullpen ranks 10th-to-last in ERA and their rotation 12th-to-last. Robbie Ray, Logan Webb, and Roupp are a solid-if-unspectacular top three, but the back end of San Francisco\u2019s rotation has been poor, and closer Caleb Kilian has been relatively unreliable. The Giants will likely be sellers at the trade deadline. <\/p>\n Kansas City has been even worse. The Royals went on an eight-game losing streak early in the season and had another stretch of 16 losses in 19 games. Even though they\u2019ve picked it back up slightly since the start of June, going 20-23 in that stretch, they\u2019re just 42-60 overall, just one game ahead of the Los Angeles Angels for the worst record in the American League. Kansas City has had baseball\u2019s 13th-worst offense despite having perennial MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr., who leads the AL in both WAR and stolen bases. 2025 All-Star Maikel Garcia has taken a step back, and Perez is no longer serviceable as an MLB starter. Additionally, the Royals have had the fifth-worst rotation and the second-worst bullpen, as their best <\/em>starter (Michael Wacha) has a 3.66 ERA and three of their five most-used relievers have been worth negative WAR. Daniel Lynch IV has been just about the only bright spot. Lynch could be a trade target for several contending teams at the deadline.<\/p>\n Roupp should have an edge in the starting pitching matchup. He\u2019s been a slightly above-average starting pitcher in each of his three seasons, with a career 104 ERA+, and this season, he\u2019s recorded a 3.98 ERA across 19 starts. Roupp has been solid more often than not, allowing two or fewer earned runs in 12 of his starts, and his ERA has been undone by a few blow-ups. Advanced numbers paint a positive picture of him, though, as he sports a 73rd-percentile expected ERA, a 70th-percentile expected batting average, and 107 Location+. The 27-year-old isn\u2019t great at incentivizing chases, so he ranks in just the 25th percentile in walk rate, but Kansas City has chased at an above-average rate and not drawn many free passes. Instead, Roupp has excelled at limiting hard contact, ranking in the top decile in average exit velocity, barrel rate, and hard-hit rate, which should make him a difficult matchup against a Royals team stacked with mashers. While Kansas City doesn\u2019t hit many grounders, Roupp\u2019s reliance on sinkers and curves should keep the ball in the park. The splits are against him, as he\u2019s been worse on the road and the Royals much better at Kauffman Stadium, but he\u2019s shut down plenty of powerful offenses on the road before.<\/p>\n Lugo hasn\u2019t been as impressive. The Quarterrican broke out as a 34-year-old in 2024, finishing second in Cy Young Award voting after a 33-start, 3.00-ERA season, but he\u2019s since regressed, posting a 4.39 mark across 20 starts so far this season. In fact, he\u2019s in particularly poor form, having given up at least six earned runs in two of his past five starts. Advanced stats really aren\u2019t a fan of his repertoire, as he ranks in the ninth percentile in expected ERA, the seventh in expected batting average, and the fifth in pitching run value. While he has an eclectic pitch mix, none of his offerings have been very valuable, as he has just 89 Stuff+. Lugo ranks in the bottom decile in chase and whiff rate, and while San Francisco does chase frequently, it rarely misses. Additionally, Lugo has been prone to giving up hard contact, ranking in the 15th percentile in hard-hit rate, the 10th percentile in average exit velocity, and the 21st percentile in barrel rate, and though the Giants are a soft-contact team, that\u2019s still a dangerous combination against the likes of Devers and Casey Schmitt. His splits are mixed, as although he\u2019s been better at home, San Francisco\u2019s road offense has been the league\u2019s sixth-best.<\/p>\n To be fair, the Giants haven\u2019t won a game by multiple runs since the first game after the All-Star break last Friday, and Kansas City is 4-1 since the break. However, Roupp will be San Francisco\u2019s best starter in this series, and the difference between a one-run loss and a two-run win isn\u2019t all that huge in a sport as volatile as baseball.<\/em><\/p>\n While Devers has had a rough start to the second half of the season, he ended his first half by posting a 1.043 OPS across a 20-game stretch. Lugo mostly offers some variety of fastball to lefties, and this season, Devers has slugged .591 against righty fastballs. <\/em><\/p>\n Read more MLB content at DraftKings Network<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\nSan Francisco Giants at Kansas City Royals Best Bets<\/h2>\n
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San Francisco Giants at Kansas City Royals prediction, preview<\/h2>\n
San Francisco Giants at Kansas City Royals pick, best bet<\/h2>\n
Best Bet: San Francisco Giants -1.5 (+124)<\/a><\/h3>\n
Strong Lean: Rafael Devers 2+ Total Bases (+110)<\/a><\/h3>\n
\nMore MLB Content<\/h2>\n