Coming into the season, not many fans would have expected this to be a battle of last place teams. Last night's win put the Royals a half-game up over the Tigers, but that's effectively what we have with this series. While the Royals' expectations weren't high, there was still a lot of hype for rookie sensation Bobby Witt Jr. As for the Red Sox, they are always expected to compete with the Yankees. However, they've fallen even below the Orioles in the AL East. The trade deadline also had a great impact on these teams, which also provides even more opportunities across s everal markets to make some profit from this game. Along with this same game parlay, be sure to check out our thoughts on the side and total for all of today's games.
Red Sox ML (-116)
Under 11.5 total runs (-320)
Xander Bogaerts 2+ total bases (+120)
Parlay odds: +450
Let's take a closer look at each leg of our same game parlay.
Red Sox ML (-116)
After taking the established Nick Pivetta proved shaky once against last night, rookie Josh Winckowski is continuing his time in the rotation for the Red Sox. Led by Chris Sale, they have some injury woes, but the youngster has filled in nicely. He just won his last start against a very deep lineup in the Brewers, in a convincing 7-2 victory. Not only has the Royals lineup been 1 of the weakest all season, it's since been depleted since the trade deadline. Beginning with 1 of the best hitters in the entire league, Andrew Benintendi was traded to the Yankees. As if losing a guy with 5th-most hits in the American League wasn't enough, they also lost Whit Merrifield to the Blue Jays, who had the 3rd-most hits in the AL last season.'
It was already difficult enough to produce enough run support for their pitching staff, as they have the league's 3rd-worst bullpen and 4th-worst overall team ERA. The series-opening 7 runs is more than they've scored in the last 3 games combined, and should not be a nightly expectation. That doesn't provide much confidence for veteran Zack Greinke. The 38 year-old is in the midst of his 2nd stint with the Royals, for his 19th overall season. While these teams haven't met this year, Greinke has never enjoyed facing the Red Sox. He's 2-5 with a 5.09 ERA against them in his career. His most recent loss was just last season in which he was pulled after allowing 4 runs in just 3.0 innings. Friday looks to be a situation to back the young blood and the Sox rather than the aging veteran and the Royals.''