Kansas City Royals vs Cleveland Indians Prediction, 9/8/2020 MLB Pick, Tips and Odds

Game: Kansas City Royals vs Cleveland Indians

Date: Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Location: Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH

TV: STOh/FSKC

Odds/Point Spread: Royals (+188) Indians (-205)

Progressive Field is the site where Jose Ramirez and the Cleveland Indians (25-15, 2nd in AL Central) will play the Kansas City Royals (14-27, 5th in AL Central) on Tuesday. The Indians open this game at -205 while the Royals are coming in at +188. The O/U has been set at 8.5. The expected starting pitchers are Jakob Junis and Triston McKenzie.

Key Kansas City Royals Injuries

9/7/2020 Jorge Soler DH Oblique Expected to be out until at least Sep 8
9/6/2020 Salvador Perez C Eye Expected to be out until at least Sep 15
9/6/2020 Carlos Hernandez RP Abdomen Expected to be out until at least Sep 8
9/2/2020 Ian Kennedy RP Calf Out for the season
8/16/2020 Daniel Tillo RP Elbow Out for the season
8/15/2020 Foster Griffin RP Elbow Out for the season
8/10/2020 Franchy Cordero RF Wrist Expected to be out until at least Sep 24
8/8/2020 Mike Montgomery SP Lat Expected to be out until at least Sep 15
8/7/2020 Glenn Sparkman RP Forearm Expected to be out until at least Sep 18
7/16/2020 Kelvin Gutierrez 3B Elbow Expected to be out until at least Sep 18

Key Cleveland Indians Injuries

9/6/2020 Delino DeShields CF Shoulder Probable for Sep 7

Useful Pitching Statistics

The Royals have a 14-27 overall record this season. Junis has taken the hill for 466 innings and is sitting with 419 strikeouts thus far in his career. His ERA is 4.69 (243 earned runs allowed) and he has a career WHIP of 1.340. He has given up 494 hits (9.5 hits per nine innings) and has 131 walks. Junis (27-30 record in his career) sits with a FIP of 4.74 and he has gone up against 2,024 batters in the major leagues. The bullpen has an earned run average of 4.26 and they have given up 171 base hits on the year. Teams are hitting .223 against the bullpen and they've struck out 186 hitters and walked 85 batters. As a team, Kansas City allows 9.1 hits per nine innings while striking out 8.8 batters per nine innings. They are 19th in the league in team earned run average at 4.69. The Royals pitchers collectively have given up 356 base hits and 183 earned runs. They have allowed 58 home runs this season, ranking them 6th in the league. Kansas City as a pitching staff has walked 155 batters and struck out 345. They have walked 4 men per 9 innings while striking out 8.8 per 9. They have a team WHIP of 1.46 and their FIP as a unit is 4.89.

Related: Get MLB predictions on all of today's games

Hitting Statistics

As a team Kansas City is hitting .238, good for 19th in the league. The Royals hold a .395 team slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .304, which is good for 28th in baseball. They rank 18th in MLB with 7.8 hits per game. Maikel Franco is hitting .255 with an on-base percentage of .299. He has 39 hits this season in 153 at bats with 20 runs batted in. He has a slugging percentage of .464 and an OPS+ of 102. Whit Merrifield is hitting .248 this year and he has an on-base percentage of .302. He has totaled 41 hits and he has driven in 22 men in 165 at bats. His OPS+ is 94 while his slugging percentage is at .424. The Royals have 321 hits, including 70 doubles and 46 home runs. Kansas City has walked 117 times so far this season and they have struck out 357 times as a unit. They have left 267 men on base and have a team OPS of .698. They score 3.83 runs per contest and have scored a total of 157 runs this year.

Useful Pitching Statistics

Cleveland has a 25-15 overall mark this year. McKenzie (2-0 win-loss record) is the owner of a 1.69 ERA and has surrendered 4.5 hits per nine innings. His strikeout to walk ratio is 4.75 and he has faced 57 opposing hitters in his MLB career. McKenzie has surrendered 8 hits while earning 19 strikeouts in 16 frames. He has allowed 3 earned runs while earning a WHIP of 0.750 and having a FIP of 3.2. The bullpen has an earned run average of 2.72 and they have given up 94 base hits on the year. Teams are hitting .185 against the Indians bullpen. Their relievers have struck out 138 batters and walked 41 opposing hitters. As a team, Cleveland allows 7 hits per nine innings while striking out 10.3 batters per nine innings. They are 1st in the league in team earned run average at 2.78. The Indians pitchers as a team have surrendered 279 base knocks and 111 earned runs this season. They have given up 40 home runs this year, which ranks 28th in Major League Baseball. Cleveland as a staff has walked 104 hitters and struck out 411 batters. They give up a walk 2.6 times per 9 innings while they strike out 10.3 per 9. Their team WHIP is 1.07 while their FIP as a staff is 3.32.

Hitting Statistics

As a team, they are batting .227, good for 25th in the league. The Indians hold a .366 team slugging percentage and an on-base percentage of .323, which is good for 19th in baseball. They rank 23rd in MLB with 7.5 hits per contest. Jose Ramirez comes into this matchup batting .253 with an OBP of .356. He has 39 hits this year along with 26 RBI in 154 AB's. He maintains a slugging percentage of .487 with an OPS+ of 123. Franmil Reyes is hitting .315 this season and he has an OBP of .377. He has collected 45 hits in 143 at bats while driving in 25 runs. He has an OPS+ of 141 and a slugging percentage of .538. The Indians as a unit have 298 base hits, including 58 doubles and 40 homers. Cleveland has walked 168 times this year and they have struck out on 355 occasions. They have had 280 men left on base and have an OPS of .689. They have scored 4.17 runs per game and totaled 167 runs this season.

Who will win tonight's Royals/Indians MLB game against the spread?

Guy's Pick: Take the Indians (-205)

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