The Minnesota Twins might be under .500 at 42-43, but that's still good enough to be leading the putrid AL Central. They're 16.5 games ahead of the last place Kansas City Royals who are in town for three games starting tonight.
The Royals are 25-59, but actually just took two of three from the Dodgers.
For Game 1, the Twins will rely on another one of their stellar starting pitchers after Sonny Gray threw a gem in a loss to the Baltimore Orioles yesterday.
Joe Ryan will take the mound and is 8-5 with a 3.44 ERA in 16 starts this season. He will be opposed by rookie Austin Cox who has seven appearances this year but only one start.
Here are the odds for this AL Central matchup on Monday:
Royals vs. Twins odds, run line and total
Royals vs. Twins prediction and pick
Cox has only made one start in the big leagues and it did not go well. Last time out he went 3.2 and allowed four runs to the Guardians in a 14-1 loss. He had four walks to just two strikeouts in that one and for the season he has 15 Ks to eight BB.
His FIP is 3.72 compared to his 2.25 ERA and it doesn't seem like he has great stuff as a starter. However, he doesn't need great stuff against the Twins, he just needs to be a lefty.
Minnesota is 29th in RBI and batting average against lefties this season and things will be even worse with Royce Lewis on the IL.
Lewis is second on the team in OPS against lefties at .854, only trailing Jorge Polanco who has just 25 at-bats against left-handers. Their leaders in at-bats vs. lefties are Donovan Solano and Will Castro, but they have just a .743 OPS and a .690 OPS respectively, with one home run apiece.
Joe Ryan has been fantastic for Minnesota and the Royals are easily one of the worst hitting teams in baseball, so I have no concerns about how he will perform, but the question is whether or not he'll get any run support.
I wouldn't count on it from that Minnesota lineup, so I'll take the under.
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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change
