The Kansas City Royals are not what you’d call a good baseball team.
This was mostly by design. The rebuilding club is just starting to tap into its farm system with prospects like Bobby Witt Jr. and MJ Melendez fully transitioning to everyday starters. So it makes sense the Royals (35-53) rank 26th in runs, 25th in homers, 23rd in OPS and dead last in WHIP with a 4.84 ERA.
A team built to lose is doing just that. And Kansas City should reach new levels of dismal when it opens a four-game series at the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday.
The Royals placed an eye-popping 10 players on the restricted list because they are not vaccinated against COVID-19 and cannot enter Canada (all Blue Jays players have to be vaxxed to enter the United States as well).
The 10 Kansas City Royals who are not vaccinated and will miss the trip to Toronto are: OF Andrew Benintendi, IF/OF Whit Merrifield, C M.J. Melendez, DH Hunter Dozier, SP Brad Keller, SP Brady Singer, CF Michael A. Taylor, OF Kyle Isbel, RP Dylan Coleman and C Cam Gallagher.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 13, 2022
The news had an instant impact on the betting lines as the Blue Jays moved to a -2.5 run favorite on the spread and -475 favorite on the moneyline at Tipico for Thursday’s opener. You can expect those lines to stay fairly consistent over the series.
Fun fact: The position players the Royals are missing today have scored 51.7% of their runs this season.
— Nick Ashbourne (@NickAshbourne) July 14, 2022
Despite the juice, bettors immediately began grabbing the Jays at whatever price they could.
According to Action Network, 60 percent of bets and 70 percent of the money wagered is on Toronto (-2.5). On the moneyline, where the Royals are +320, 92 percent of the bets are on the Blue Jays along with 68 percent of the money.
Bettors are split on whether or not the teams will cover the 8.5 run total with 63 percent of bets placed on the over and 81 percent of the money on the under.
Go ahead and feel comfortable tailing everyone fading the Royals. It’s going to be a long, weird weekend trip to Canada for them.
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