Blue Jays vs Royals: MLB Odds, Picks, Prediction

The Kansas City Royals were inept over the weekend in being swept by the Minnesota Twins, so the Royals try again for that first win of 2023 when they host the Toronto Blue Jays, who are short favorites on the MLB odds.

Toronto vs Kansas City Series | 2023 MLB Expert Analysis

How to Bet Blue Jays at Royals MLB Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 7:40 PM ET
Where: Kauffman Stadium
Probable pitchers (away/home): Jose Berrios/Brady Singer
TV: MLB Extra Innings
Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
Opening MLB Lines: Blue Jays -125, Royals -105 (total 8.5)

Why Bet on Toronto?

Toronto scored 10 runs on Opening Day in a wild win in St. Louis but scored just five in the next two, losing both. It was a 9-4 loss on Sunday. Chris Bassitt (0-1) signed a three-year, $63 million deal in December, gave up the three homers on the first 14 pitches and ended up allowing nine runs on 10 hits over 3 1/3 innings so the Jays had to use their bullpen much more than they would have liked.

The 10 hits and nine earned runs he allowed were more than in any of Bassitt’s 30 starts with the Mets last season. And it’s not as if St. Louis hitters had beaten up on him in recent years. In two starts against them last season, Bassitt gave up a combined four runs, a total they had matched in the first inning on Sunday. The Blue Jays didn’t hit a homer in the series, the first time they have opened a season with three straight homerless games.

Right-hander Jose Berrios will start Monday. After five consecutive seasons with a 4.00 ERA or below, the Jays made him their ace and rewarded Berrios with a $131 million (U.S.) contract. He responded by not being able to get out of the first inning in his Opening Day 2022 start and later finishing the year with a 5.23 ERA, highest in the majors among qualified starters.

This spring, the goal was to improve fastball command and limit the pitches he throws into hittable parts of the zone. Berrios’ five innings of one-run ball in a late spring start against the Orioles offered a sign of hope.

“Last year was tough, but the biggest thing about him was that he was as accountable as anybody I’ve ever seen,” Jays manager John Schneider said of Berrios this spring. “To us, which he didn’t need to do, and to his teammates, which he didn’t need to do.”

Berrios faced the Royals once last season on July 17 at Rogers Centre, giving up 2 runs on 7 hits and a walk over 6.1 frames with 7 strikeouts. He has made 19 career starts against KC, posting a 6-4 record and a 4.45 ERA (55 ER/111.1 IP) with 101 punchouts.

The Blue Jays are playing their first 10 games on the road as renovations wrap up on Rogers Centre. It ties the longest road swing to start the season; the team played its first 10 games on the road in 1984.

Toronto’s .556 road win percentage in 2022 (45-36) ranked 3rd in the AL and tied for 2nd best in team history (1st: .580 in 1993). Blue Jays hitters led the AL in road runs (416), AVG (.266), OBP (.331), SLG (.428), and OPS (.759). road ERA (3.70), 5th in road WHIP (1.24), and 6th in road opponents’ batting average (.245).

Bet Royals to Win Today
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Game

Why Bet on Kansas City?

Kansas City’s first series went about as bad as expected as the Royals were swept 3-0 by rival Minnesota and only managed four total runs. In Sunday’s 7-4 loss, Edward Olivares homered in the second inning. That broke a 19-inning scoreless streak — the team’s longest drought to start a season in franchise history.

Kansas City was swept in a three-game series to begin the season for the seventh time in franchise history and first time since 2017 at Minnesota. The Royals are 0-3 for the ninth time in the franchise’s 55-year history and the first time since 2018, when they started with 2 losses to the White Sox and 1 to Detroit. In that first series, the Twins went 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

“You hope it is momentum, but tomorrow is a new day,” Royals first-year manager Matt Quatraro said. “Just because you don’t get runs one day doesn’t mean you can’t the next and vice versa. These guys are working hard, the mood was good and the work before that game was good so it is not something to be concerned about.”

It will be Brady Singer on the mound Monday. Since making his debut in 2020, Singer leads all Royals pitchers in starts (63), innings pitched (346.0) and strikeouts (342), and among all Major League pitchers who have debuted since 2020, Singer ranks 1st in starts and 3rd in strikeouts.

In 2022, he set career bests in wins (10), innings (153.1), ERA (3.23), strikeouts (150), and BB/9 (2.1)…he had 7 starts in 2022 in which he pitched at least 7.0 innings and allowed 1 run or fewer. Those 7 starts tied him for 4th in the American League, finishing behind only Martín Perez (9), Justin Verlander (8) and Shohei Ohtani (8).

Singer became the fourth Royal since 2000 to win 10 games at age 25 or younger, joining Jeff Suppan, Zack Greinke and Yordano Ventura. He pitched to an 8-2 record at home last season, posting an ERA of 2.76 and holding opposing batters to a .235 average over 94.2 innings.

Singer pitched well in his final Cactus League tune-up against the Rangers last Tuesday, giving up just one run on four hits over his five-plus innings of work. The 26-year-old punched out five batters. Singer finished this spring with a 2.13 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and an 18/2 K/BB ratio over 12 2/3 innings of work in his four starts.

Bet Blue Jays to Win Today
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Game