Kansas City Royals Vs Chicago Cubs Prediction, Odds and Preview - 08/20/2021

Game Time: 2:20 pm ET, Friday, August 20th, 2021

Venue:  Wrigley Field, Chicago Illinois

Where to Watch: Marquee Sports Network, Bally Sports Kansas City, MLBN

Royals:  52-67 (last place, AL Central)

Cubs:  54-69 (4th place NL Central)

DraftKings:  Moneyline odds:  Royals -115, Cubs -105; Over/Under:  9 runs

Royals:  Adalberto Mondesi (oblique) Out, Anderson Miller Day-to-Day

Cubs:  Adbert Alzolay (hamstring) Out, Nico Hoerner (oblique) Out

Royals:

W. Merrifield, 2B
N. Lopez, SS
S. Perez, DH
C. Santana, 1B
A. Benintendi, LF
H. Dozier, 3B
R. O'Hearn, RF
C. Gallagher, C
J. Dyson, CF

Cubs:

R. Ortega, CF
F. Schwindel, 1B
I. Happ, LF
M. Duffy, 3B
D. Bote, 2B
M. Hermosillo, RF
R. Chirinos, C
S. Alcantara, SS

Royals:

Batting Average:  Nicky Lopez (.277)

Hits: Whit Merrifield (130)

Home Runs:  Salvador Perez (30)

RBI:  Salvador Perez (77)

Stolen Bases:  Whit Merrifield (34)

Wins:  Mike Minor (8)

Saves:  Scott Barlow (7)

ERA:  Mike Minor (5.35)

Cubs:

Batting Average: Wilson Contreras (.226)

Hits:  Kris Bryant (87)

Home Runs:  Javier Baez (22)

RBI:  Javier Baez (65)

Stolen Bases:  Javier Baez (13)

Wins: Kyle Hendricks (14)

Saves: Craig Kimbrel (23)

ERA:  Kyle Hendricks (4.04)

The Royals are 5-5 over their last ten games with 5 Overs and 5 Unders.  They swept the Houston Astros in a 3 game series 3-0, They had their own sweep against the lowly St. Louis Cardinals 0-3, went 1-2 against the New York Yankees, and beat St. Louis at the start of the ten 1-0.  Beating Houston 3 times in a row (potentially 4 counting today) is a nice pull anywhere on the schedule.. But for a bad team toward season’s end?  That's superb.  Maybe Kansas City figured out a way to counteract however Houston is cheating this year.

The Cubs are 2-8 over their last ten games with 5 Overs, 4 Unders, and 1 Push.  They went 1-2 against the Cincinnati Reds, got swept by the Miami Marlins 0-3, and got swept by the Milwaukee Brewers 0-4. It was a bad stretch… among a season of bad stretches.

The Royals are 17th in batting average .243, 25th in runs scored 487, and 28th in homers 118.  The highlights have been scarce. Slugging only .380 (near last) KC has rarely seen the outfield in Kauffman stadium drilled during home games…. But then the tickets rarely contain such a guarantee.

The Royals are 27th in team ERA, 19th in strikeouts at 1017, and have given up the 9th most homers in the league at 1019…. A number that is only a few percentage points away from giving up 1 homer for every inning pitched!  (The Baltimore Orioles will have that number if they give up 4 homers in their next game!)

The Cubs are 28th in batting average .231, 21st in runs scored 521, 10th (!!) in home runs 153 (not bad for a bad team).  Of course that was before.. They are down a few home run hitters since then.

The Cubs are 21st in team ERA 4.57, 16th in strikeouts 1060, and 3rd in giving up home runs 175.  They have given up more homeruns than their team has hit… and they traded away some of their quality bats at the trade deadline.  They will definitely give up more than they hit the rest of the way through.

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The Royals will start righty Brad Keller 7-12, 5.62 ERA, 109 Strikeouts in 123 innings pitched, 1.69 WHIP.  Don’t let those horrible numbers fool you, Over his last 7 games Brad is better in ERA, WHIP, and Strikeouts per inning.  He is a 26 year old kid who could finally be getting the handle on the bigs… of course his record over the last 7 is 1-4.  He doesn’t pitch for a great team and he is not a great pitcher… but which one is it?  Conventional logic says the more baseball games he pitches in the more we will know… but on the Royals who give him little offense in support we really won’t know.

The Cubs will put right-handed pitcher Zach Davies on the mound 6-9, 5.00 ERA, 91 strikeouts in 120 innings pitched, 1.53 WHIP.  About the same but a slight bit better.  Zach has a winning record on his career 56-45, Brad doesn’t.  Zach is 28 and a little more experienced Brad is 26 and green.  Zach is small and skinny for a major league player 6’0 180.. Brad is a 6’5 255lb monster on the rubber. When two losing teams play each other and put two losing pitchers out there who are about the same statistically…. We have to look at the offense.

The offense for both teams is bad!  These are two sinking teams.  The question then becomes who is sinking faster?b  The Cubs won on Tuesday and Wednesday to make them 2-8 over the last ten.  The Cubs are posting some of the lowest stats in major league baseball, and even though Kansas City is too, going forward the Cubs look like not just the National League underdog, but league wide.  The Texas Rangers put up more fights recently.

Based entirely on recent events.  And on vital trade deadline losses.  The Royals seem to have what it takes to win this one.  The Cubs don’t even seem interested in the rest of this year.

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