San Diego Padres vs Kansas City Royals Prediction, 5/31/2024 MLB Picks, Best Bets & Odds

Game: San Diego Padres vs Kansas City Royals

Date: Friday, May 31, 2024

Location: Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO

TV: Padres.TV

The Kansas City Royals (35-22) are hosting the San Diego Padres (30-29) at Kauffman Stadium on Friday. The starting pitchers are Dylan Cease and Michael Wacha.

The Padres have compiled 82 doubles as a team and have knocked 56 baseballs out of the park. San Diego owns a slugging percentage of .388 and have been called out on strikes 418 times, while being walked on 181 occasions. As a unit, the San Diego Padres are scoring 4.3 runs per outing, which ranks them 15th in the league. They have compiled 245 runs batted in as well as 508 hits this year, and their team batting average sits at .255. They have earned 255 runs scored while holding a team OBP of .321.

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The Padres are sitting with a team earned run average of 3.90 this season (14th in the league), and the staff has rung up 529 hitters. Padres pitchers have surrendered 66 long balls and 250 runs in total (19th in the league). Their pitching staff has walked 169 opposing hitters and their FIP comes in at 3.84 as a team for the season. San Diego has given up 464 base hits (8.0 per 9 innings) in addition to 227 earned runs. Their strikeout to walk ratio sits at 3.13 and their pitching staff has a collective WHIP of 1.21.

Padres bullpen pitchers have stepped onto the hill with runners on 63 times as well as having 48 appearances in high leverage situations. The relievers have recorded 25 holds on the season (24th in baseball). The Padres bullpen have a save percentage of 73.9% and stepped onto the hill in 49 save situations. They have 17 saves this season and have blown 6 out of their 23 chances to save the game. The bullpen pitchers have inherited 89 base runners so far this season and 34.8% of those players ended up scoring. The Padres have dispatched 188 relievers to the hill so far this season.

The Padres have turned 70.2% of balls hit into play into outs in their 4,719 innings on the field, which has them sitting at 11th in MLB. The San Diego Padres have 1,573 putouts for the season, as well as 471 assists and 31 errors. Their fielding percentage is holding at .985 which is 12th in pro baseball, and have a total of 42 double plays.

Cease (48-39 career record) has a FIP of 3.77 while he has gone up against 3,081 hitters during his time in the majors. He has given up 608 hits (7.6 hits per 9 innings) and has had 314 walks. His earned run average is 3.78 (304 ER's allowed) and he has a WHIP of 1.274. Cease has taken the hill for 723 innings and is sitting with 874 punch outs thus far in his career.

The Kansas City Royals have tallied an on-base percentage of .313 in addition to a batting average of .252 so far this year. They have been called out on strikes on 398 instances (28th in the league) and have a total of 478 base knocks. Kansas City is sitting with 57 home runs on the year as well as 266 RBIs. The Royals hold a slugging percentage of .409 and they average 4.84 runs per game (6th in MLB). They have recorded 102 two-baggers, while taking a walk 157 times as well as scoring 276 runs.

The Royals have a team WHIP of 1.228 and have a FIP of 3.62 as a unit on the campaign. They are currently ranked 13th in the league as a staff in total hits surrendered with 442. The Kansas City pitching staff have yielded 195 runs so far this season while holding a team ERA of 3.35 (186 earned runs allowed). Their strikeout to walk ratio is 8.20 (453 strikeouts against 172 walks). They have conceded 44 homers and they give up 3.51 runs per 9 innings (2nd in baseball).

Kansas City has had relief pitchers enter the game in 24 save opportunities and they have tallied 17 saves. They sit at 6th in MLB with a save rate of 70.8%, and they have sent 171 relief pitchers to the hill this year. Their relief pitchers have stepped onto the hill 57 times in high leverage situations in addition to 35 occasions with runners on base. Kansas City relievers hold an inherited score rate of 23.8% of 63 inherited runners. Sitting with 55 save situations, the Royals have earned 30 holds and 7 blown saves.

The Kansas City Royals have turned 36 double plays and have a fielding rate of .989 (3rd in the majors). The Royals have accrued 500 assists, 22 errors and have 1,500 putouts so far this season. In their 4,500 innings on the field, the Royals are sitting with a efficiency on defense of 70.7% (7th in pro baseball).

Thus far in his career, Wacha has given up 1,311 base knocks while he has earned 1,199 K's in 1,350 innings pitched. Wacha (92-59 record in his career) holds a 3.98 ERA while conceding 8.7 hits per 9 innings. He has surrendered a total of 597 ER's while holding a WHIP of 1.290 and a FIP of 4.0. He has a strikeout to walk ratio of 2.78 and he has faced 5,707 opposing hitters so far in his MLB career.

Who will win tonight's MLB game against the spread or moneyline?

Josh Schonwald's Pick: Take Kansas City

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