Cleveland Indians vs Kansas Royals, 7/18/2016, Oddsboard.com Prediction

Cleveland Indians vs Kansas City Royals

Game Time: Monday July 18th, 8:05pm EST

MLB Betting Odds: Indians -145, O/U 8

Cleveland Indians vs Kansas City Royals Prediction provided by Oddsboard.com

Cleveland Indians

Starting Pitcher: Cory Kluber (9–8, 3.61 ERA)

Former Cy Young Award winner Cory Kluber gets the nod tonight vs the Royals. While Kluber is (9–8) on the season, he has pitched well lately considering the start of his season. Kluber started the season (2–5) after 8 starts. He has gone (7–3) in his last 10 starts.

Cleveland has been a nice surprise in the first half of the season and currently lead the AL Central by 6.5 games over the Tigers and 8.0 games over the Royals.

The main storyline in the second half of the season for this team will be whether they can maintain the lead in the Central. This is a big series for both teams and it may provide insight as to which team is on the rise and which team is on the decline.

Kansas City Royals

Starting Pitcher: Edinson Volquez (8–8, 4.85)

Edinson Volquez has been mediocre so far in 2016. He was a key piece in the 2015 World Series run but it appears he has a World Series hangover. Volquez’s ERA continues to rise but he needs desperately to help his team make a second half playoff run.

Run production has plagued the Royals so far this season. Kansas City has produced only 364 runs and only Tampa Bay has scored less runs in the AL.

Eric Hosmer leads the team with a .299 BA, 103 hits and 51 RBI’s.

Kansas City has dealt with injuries this season and have recently lost Lorenzo Cain for 15 days and 3B Mike Moustakas was lost for the season to a knee injury. Whether they make some moves before the trade deadline is a question we have but this team will need to grind it out in order to make another post season run.

Indians vs Royals Prediction

Cleveland Indians Betting Trends:

• 9–2 in their last 11 road games vs. a right-handed starter.
• 13–5 in their last 18 games vs. a right-handed starter.
• 10–3 in their last 13 games vs. a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30.

Kansas City Royals Betting Trends

• 1–4 in their last 5 games vs. a starter with a WHIP less than 1.15.
• 2–5 in Volquez’s last 7 starts following a Quality Start in his last appearance.

At this point in the season I trust Kluber over Volquez. Edinson Volquez is a head case and when things are bad his emotions get the best of him. Kluber seems to have turned things around this season and we can expect him to start to collect some wins. My money is on the Under 8. I don’t see this being a high scoring game and both starters should pitch well enough to keep the run total low.

Pick: Under 8