The Kansas City Royals are visiting the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, June 18^th at the Globe Life Field in the second game of this series, with the Royals having the 1-0 lead. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best bets for this game. Here’s a Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers Prediction. We will examine:
The Texas Rangers recent form and player performance
The Kansas City Royals recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Texas Rangers
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Kansas City Royals
Recent betting trends in games played between the Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers game

Texas Rangers Preview

The Texas Rangers have a 36-37 record this season and are sitting on the third place of the AL West. The Rangers have a 23-14 home record and 23-48 in over/under. They are coming off a 1-6 home defeat by the Royals, which snapped their previous four-game winning streak. Under is 7-3-1 in their last 11 games and are playing the Pirates and the Orioles next.

The Rangers have a .228 batting average this season, .293 OBP and .369 slugging percentage. Texas’ pitching staff has a 3.15 ERA and 1.14 WHIP.  Josh Smith leads the Rangerswith 63 hits, and he is the team’s best hitter with a .288 batting average. Adolis Garcia leads the team in RBI, with 34.

Patrick Corbin (L) is the projected starter for the Rangers, and he has a 4-5 record, 3.66 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. He has been better at home, with a 3.00 ERA across five home starts, and he is coming off a win against the Twins, where he gave up 3 runs across 5 innings of work. Patrick Corbin has a record of 1-0 with an ERA of 4.22 and 22 strikeouts in 4 appearances against the Royals in his career. 

Kansas City Royals Preview

The Kansas City Royals have a 35-38 record this season and are sitting on the 4^th place of the AL Central. The Royals have a 16-19 road record and are 29-43 in over/under. They are coming off a 6-1 road victory over the Rangers, which snapped their previous six-game losing streak. Under is 4-1 in their last 5 games and are playing the Rays and the Padres next.

The Royals have a .249 batting average this season, .302 OBP and .369 Slugging percentage. Kansas’ pitching staff has a 3.40 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. Maikel Garcia leads the Royalswith 81 hits, and he is the team’s best hitter with a .312 batting average. Vinnie Pasquantino leads the team both in RBI, with 39, and in home runs, with 10.

Kris Bubic (L) is the projected starter for the Royals, and he has a 5-4 record, 1.92 ERA and 1.07 WHIP. He has been better on the road, with a 1.48 ERA across seven road starts, but he is coming off his worst start of the season against the Yankees, where he gave up 5 runs across 4.1 innings of work. In his only previous start against the Rangers back in 2022, he gave up 4 runs across 4.2 innings of work.

Why the Texas Rangers will win

The Rangers have won each of their last nine games against the Royals following a home loss.
The Royals have lost each of their last eight games following a win.
The Rangers have covered the run line in each of their last seven night games against the Royals following a loss.
The Royals have failed to cover the run line in 12 of their last 13 games as favorites after playing the previous day.
The Royals have trailed after 3 innings in four of their last five games as favorites against American League opponents.
The Royals have trailed after 5 innings in four of their last five games as road favorites against AL West opponents.

Why the Kansas City Royals will win

The road team has won each of the Royals’ last eight games.
The Rangers have lost each of their last seven Wednesday games against American League opponents.
The Royals have covered the run line in each of their last eight Wednesday road games.
The Rangers have failed to cover the run line in eight of their last nine games against AL Central opponents that held a losing record.
The Rangers have trailed after 3 innings in four of their last five night games against AL Central opponents that held a losing record.
The Royals have led after 5 innings in each of their last eight Wednesday games as favorites.

Total Runs Facts

Eight of the Rangers’ last nine home games against American League opponents have gone UNDER the total runs line.
Five of the Royals’ last six games against AL West opponents have gone UNDER the total runs line.
The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in 12 of the Royals’ last 13 road games against AL West opponents.
The ‘Inning 1 UNDER 0.5 runs’ market has hit in 12 of the Rangers’ last 14 games as underdogs against American League opponents.

Matchup/League Facts

The Rangers rank 1st in the league for runs allowed this season (244).
The Rangers rank 2nd in the league for ERA this season (3.15).
The Royals rank 30th in the league for home runs this season (49).
The Royals rank 30th in the league for walks this season (170).

Kansas City Royals vs Texas Rangers Prediction

The Rangers are 8-2 in their last 10 meetings against the Royals, and are 3-1 in their last 4 meetings in Texas. Under is 4-0-1 in their last 5 meetings. 
In this Kansas City Royals vs Texas RangersPrediction, the Royalsare coming as -120 road favorites. Both teams have almost identical overall records, but the Rangers have been extremely strong at home, while the Royals are below average on the road. Both pitchers have been excellent this season with a combined 5.58 ERA, and their home/away splits are even better, with a combined 4.48 ERA. Both teams also have top-10 bullpens in the league, and are a strong 91-52 to the under combined this season, as they have bottom-5 offenses, with 6.97 runs per game combined. They are even weaker against lefties, averaging 6.1 runs combined against left-handed pitching. Take the under 8 with confidence in this one.
 

Nikos Lagouretos's Pick: Under 8