⚾ Royals vs. Athletics Prediction & Picks: MLB Odds for Tuesday, April 28

The Kansas City Royals seek their first four-game winning streak of the season when they visit the AL West division-leading Athletics at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento at 9:40 p.m. ET (ESPN Unlimited). The starting pitching matchup is between southpaw Kris Bubic and Aaron Civale, and the Royals are -115 betting favorites.

My Royals vs. Athletics prediction backs the road favorites amid an offensive breakout, and expects one of its All-Star sluggers to remain hot after homering for the first time this season in the last game as part of my MLB picks.

⚾ Royals vs. Athletics picks & odds today

See all of our experts’ MLB picks based on the latest MLB odds; picks rated on a 1-to-5 star confidence scale based on betting value.

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🏆 Who will win Royals vs. Athletics?

Kansas City’s long dormant offense exploded for 29 runs in a three-game home sweep of the Los Angeles Angels. I expect its bats to stay hot at one of the most hitter-friendly ballparks in the majors, leading to the team’s longest winning streak of the season.

Score prediction: Royals 7, Athletics 5

💰 Royals vs. Athletics prediction & best bet

Royals ML (-115)

The Athletics are skipping Jacob Lopez's turn in the rotation in favor of Aaron Civale, who has led the team to a 2-3 record in his five starts. Meanwhile, the Royals scored five-plus runs in every game during a six-game homestand, and the team is in its better split after having gone just 2-6 against southpaws.

After ranking among MLB’s worst in nearly every offensive category, the Royals were third in BABIP and wRC+, while leading the league in wOBA and runs over the last seven days entering Monday.

Kansas City had a day off to recover from a rain delayed 10-inning win on Sunday, and the club is 2-2 after off days this season.  

🔥 Best Royals vs. Athletics player prop bet

Nick Kurtz Over 0.5 runs (-110)

Nick Kurtz set a unique franchise record on Sunday with a walk in his 16th consecutive game. That broke a four-way tie with Rickey Henderson (1993), Max Bishop (1933), and Topsy Hartsel (1905), who all drew walks in 15 straight.

The Athletics were held to just two runs in Sunday’s win, which snapped a five-game streak of Kurtz scoring at least one run. But over the last eight games, Kurtz has more outings with multiple runs scored (three) than games without a run (two). He started the week ranked in the top 50 of all players with 17 runs scored, but nearly half of those (eight) have come within the last six games.

Whether it’s by drawing another walk or improving upon his .242 batting average, I expect Kurtz to find a way to cross the plate for an Athletics team that averages 5.1 runs per game at home.

💣 Royals vs. Athletics home run prediction

Bobby Witt Jr. to hit a home run (+375)

I’m hoping that Bobby Witt Jr. seeing a ball go over the fence for the first time in 35 games means he's about to go on a power surge. He only homered in back-to-back games once while hitting 23 total last season, but Sutter Health Park is a great ballpark to remedy any hitting issues, as it increases home run percentages by 29%, per Ballpark Pal. 

Civale has allowed just one home run (in 38 at-bats) to right-handed hitters, but righties are slugging 24 points better against him than lefties.

Even amid his power struggles, Witt Jr. still ranks in the 83rd percentile in expected slugging percentage, and in the 87th percentile or better in average exit velocity and hard-hit rate.

🚀 Royals vs. Athletics same-game parlay

For Witt Jr. to homer again today, he would have to do something he hasn't done since August 2024, which is to go deep in back-to-back games. That's why I'm taking the more conservative approach with him using his elite batting metrics to drive in a run, while Kurtz scoring shouldn't impact Kansas City's chances of winning a fourth straight game much.

💵 My betting record for MLB picks

All MLB picks, including SGPs, have been tracked since March 26.

💡 How I'm betting Royals vs. Athletics: MLB strategy

Follow all of our MLB analysis and expert predictions for baseball season.

Given that I expect Kansas City to win while backing Kurtz to score at least one run, I wouldn't put anyone off taking the full game Over instead of the Royals' moneyline odds. Either way, I'm staying true to my successful formula that's generated nearly 23 units of profit since the start of the season, with a one-unit play on both my game prediction and top player prop wager, while limiting my home run bet to a 0.25-unit play.

📊 Live Royals vs. Athletics odds

The Royals are anywhere from -115 to -120 moneyline favorites. But the fact that they have won just one of five games thus far as road favorites and are now facing a first-place team means I expect this line to shade toward the Athletics before first pitch.

The O/U is at 9.5 across the market, with the Under juiced as high as -120 (54.55% implied odds) at BetMGM, Caesars, and bet365. There's been no movement off that number yet, and I don't expect there to be, given the near dead-even betting split (51/49 in favor of the Over) at DraftKings.

📈 Royals vs. Athletics betting trends

🚑 Royals vs. Athletics injuries

📺 How to watch Royals vs. Athletics

• Date: Tuesday, April 28
• First pitch: 9:40 p.m. ET
• Ballpark: Sutter Health Park (Sacramento, Calif.)
• TV: ESPN Unlimited
• Streaming: MLB.TV
• Royals starter: Kris Bubic (2-1, 4.08 ERA)
• Athletics starter: Aaron Civale (2-1, 3.86 ERA)