Yesterday’s Results for Chicago Cubs vs Kansas City Royals

Nelly’s Sunday Interleague Total Delivery

Analysis: The weather will be very favorable to offense Sunday in Kansas City with a substantial wind pushing out to center field and temperatures in the mid-90s. These teams split with 10 and nine runs the past two days and there easily could have been more scoring yesterday as the Cubs and Royals combined to go 3-19 with runners in scoring position. In the past five games the Royals are batting .350 with 8.3 runs per nine vs. left-handed pitching and while Matthew Boyd owns a 7-1 record, he has provided mostly average results on the mound. Boyd has allowed nearly a hit per inning while his xERA of 4.57 looks more realistic than his 3.59 ERA. His strikeout rate is also well below his best seasons with a 7.8 K/9. Randy Dobnak has a 1.16 ERA, but it is a very small sample size of 31 innings. His FIP is 4.22 with an xERA of 4.87 and those numbers are much closer to being in line with his career norms. Dobnak pitched well in his last two starts facing his former team, but this will be a difficult matchup facing Chicago’s elite offense. Kansas City has featured one of the worst bullpens in MLB all season long while the Cubs have had some challenges in the late innings recently with a 4.66 ERA in the past five games. This is an elevated total but the Sunday’s pitching pairing and weather conditions support plenty of scoring opportunities. Thank you for playing with Nelly’s and Best of Luck.