The Texas Rangers (0-1) continue their season-opening series against the Kansas City Royals (1-0) with a 2:10 p.m. ET Saturday matinee at Kauffman Stadium. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook‘s lines around the Rangers vs. Royals odds with MLB picks and predictions.
RHP Kohei Arihara is slated to toe the slab for the Rangers. Arihara is making his Major League debut after pitching the last six years for the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League. The 28-year-old right-hander logged sub-3.50 ERAs each of the last two seasons for the Ham Fighters.
LHP Mike Minor gets the call for the Royals. In 2020, he went 1-6 with a 5.56 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 9.9 K/9, and 3.2 BB/9 in 56 2/3 IP over 11
starts and one relief appearance. Minor has a history of being a fast starter out of the gate (career April/March OPS allowed of .668). The veteran logged a 65-game relief season for Kansas City in 2017; he posted a 2.77 ERA in Kauffman Stadium.
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Rangers at Royals odds, lines, picks and prediction
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports for a full list. Odds last updated at 11:30 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Rangers +145 (bet $100 to win $145) | Royals -175 (bet $175 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Rangers +1.5 (-125) | Royals -1.5 (+105)
- Over/Under: 9.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)
Prediction
Royals 5, Rangers 3
Money line (ML)
This one gets pegged as about a 60-40 lean toward the host Royals. As such, the payoffs here wall off any value on either. PASS.
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Run line/Against the spread (ATS)
With Arihara as a first-time starter, and with the Kansas City pen being the better of the two, the slightest leans perhaps leads to a ROYALS -1.5 (+105) play. But with an Under lean, and the home team not batting with a ninth-inning lead, a partial-unit wager is suggested.
Over/Under (O/U)
Early money on this game has gone to the Under. A 15-mile-per-hour wind out to center is expected for Saturday’s tilt beneath the water falls. But not much is expected from either offense this season, April Minor and the Royals pen get a thumbs-up, and the unknown Arihara figures as a solid control pitcher whose 1.07 WHIP in spring adds to the Under ammo here.
BACK THE UNDER 9.5 (-115).
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