MLB Betting Odds: Top Arms Meet in White Sox and Royals Rubber Game
Kansas City and Chicago will send out two of their better starting pitchers on Wednesday night when the Royals and White Sox close out their three-game series.
The Kansas City Royals host the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in the rubber game of a three-game set that is especially important to Ozzie Guillen's guys.
Chicago is third in the AL Central, 1.5 games behind the Twins at the top and one game back of second-place Detroit. With those two squads engaged at Target Field, the White Sox will need a victory tonight in Kansas City to keep the same gap between them and whoever comes out on top of the matinee contest in Minneapolis.
Kansas City won the opener on Monday, 3-1. Andrew Lerew won his first Major League Baseball game, combining with three Royals relievers on a three-hitter. KC was a 115-120 underdog to Mark Buehrle and the ChiSox in that one, a line very similar line to the one the Royals took into Game 2 on Tuesday. The Chicago lineup staked Gavin Floyd to a 4-0 lead and that held up for the 4-3 White Sox win to even the series.
It also evened the season series at four wins apiece with the Royals now 3-2 at home. The 'under' is currently on a three-game run between the two crews.
The baseball betting odds will be turned the other way for the series finale with Zack Greinke (4-12, 3.72) and the Royals 115-120 chalk. Jake Peavy (8-7, 4.71) will start for the White Sox with the total opening at 7½ and hard on the 'under' at minus 120-125.
After starting the season slow with just three quality starts among the first 11 he made, Peavy has found his groove in June. He's won his last three and is working on a 21-inning scoreless streak entering Wednesday's contest. Besides the wins, the most encouraging stat for Peavy right now is his strikeout-to-walk ratio, 24:6 this month and 64:11 over his last 70 2/3 innings.
Peavy has won all three starts he's made against the Royals since joining the White Sox. That includes a 5-4 decision in Kansas City on May 15 when he worked into the ninth and was eventually charged for all four Royals runs.
Greinke will be facing the Chicago lineup for the first time this season. He saw the White Sox five times in 2009 with Kansas City 2-3 in those contests and Greinke owning a 2.31 ERA over 35 frames. One of the wins was a six-hit, 10-K shutout at Kauffman Stadium.
The 2009 AL Cy Young winner has been the victim of both poor relief and no offense in 2010, as KC's 4-12 record in his 16 starts with an ERA below 4.00 would suggest. Two of his three personal wins have come in his last three outings, however, a complete game effort in Cincinnati and last Friday's 4-2 win over the Cardinals with Greinke tossing eight and allowing just one earned run.
Tim Timmons is in rotation for plate duty, his 18th game to call the pitches in 2010. Home underdogs are 2-0 when he's behind the plate in a very limited sampling. The 'under' is 9-6-2 over in games Timmons calls, and 5-2-1 with the number is eight or less.
The weather looks fantastic for the 15,000 or so loyal Royals fans that will be in attendance at Kauffman Stadium. Clear skies, a light breeze blowing to from the right-field corner to the third base bag and temps in the 70s are currently in the forecast.
Chicago will take Thursday off while traveling to Texas for a big holiday weekend series with the Rangers. The Royals also have Thursday off before they hit the road for a nine-game trip to Anaheim, Seattle and Chicago's South Side for a rematch with the ChiSox that comes just before the All-Star break.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R!
Kansas City and Chicago will send out two of their better starting pitchers on Wednesday night when the Royals and White Sox close out their three-game series.
The Kansas City Royals host the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in the rubber game of a three-game set that is especially important to Ozzie Guillen's guys.
Chicago is third in the AL Central, 1.5 games behind the Twins at the top and one game back of second-place Detroit. With those two squads engaged at Target Field, the White Sox will need a victory tonight in Kansas City to keep the same gap between them and whoever comes out on top of the matinee contest in Minneapolis.
Kansas City won the opener on Monday, 3-1. Andrew Lerew won his first Major League Baseball game, combining with three Royals relievers on a three-hitter. KC was a 115-120 underdog to Mark Buehrle and the ChiSox in that one, a line very similar line to the one the Royals took into Game 2 on Tuesday. The Chicago lineup staked Gavin Floyd to a 4-0 lead and that held up for the 4-3 White Sox win to even the series.
It also evened the season series at four wins apiece with the Royals now 3-2 at home. The 'under' is currently on a three-game run between the two crews.
The baseball betting odds will be turned the other way for the series finale with Zack Greinke (4-12, 3.72) and the Royals 115-120 chalk. Jake Peavy (8-7, 4.71) will start for the White Sox with the total opening at 7½ and hard on the 'under' at minus 120-125.
After starting the season slow with just three quality starts among the first 11 he made, Peavy has found his groove in June. He's won his last three and is working on a 21-inning scoreless streak entering Wednesday's contest. Besides the wins, the most encouraging stat for Peavy right now is his strikeout-to-walk ratio, 24:6 this month and 64:11 over his last 70 2/3 innings.
Peavy has won all three starts he's made against the Royals since joining the White Sox. That includes a 5-4 decision in Kansas City on May 15 when he worked into the ninth and was eventually charged for all four Royals runs.
Greinke will be facing the Chicago lineup for the first time this season. He saw the White Sox five times in 2009 with Kansas City 2-3 in those contests and Greinke owning a 2.31 ERA over 35 frames. One of the wins was a six-hit, 10-K shutout at Kauffman Stadium.
The 2009 AL Cy Young winner has been the victim of both poor relief and no offense in 2010, as KC's 4-12 record in his 16 starts with an ERA below 4.00 would suggest. Two of his three personal wins have come in his last three outings, however, a complete game effort in Cincinnati and last Friday's 4-2 win over the Cardinals with Greinke tossing eight and allowing just one earned run.
Tim Timmons is in rotation for plate duty, his 18th game to call the pitches in 2010. Home underdogs are 2-0 when he's behind the plate in a very limited sampling. The 'under' is 9-6-2 over in games Timmons calls, and 5-2-1 with the number is eight or less.
The weather looks fantastic for the 15,000 or so loyal Royals fans that will be in attendance at Kauffman Stadium. Clear skies, a light breeze blowing to from the right-field corner to the third base bag and temps in the 70s are currently in the forecast.
Chicago will take Thursday off while traveling to Texas for a big holiday weekend series with the Rangers. The Royals also have Thursday off before they hit the road for a nine-game trip to Anaheim, Seattle and Chicago's South Side for a rematch with the ChiSox that comes just before the All-Star break.
NOTE: The W-L records shown for starting pitchers are their team's W-L mark when they started games in the 2010 season. Statistical sources for this article were Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, ESPN.com and, of course, S-BEE-R!