Betting Matchup Preview
Game Details
- Who: Kansas City Royals at Los Angeles Angels
- When: Friday, April 21
- Time: 6:38 p.m. PT / 9:38 p.m. ET
- Where: Angel Stadium (Anaheim, California)
Betting Odds Summary
- Moneyline: Royals +240, Angels -300
- Runline: Royals +2.5 (-135), Angels -2.5 (+110)
- Total: Over/Under 8.5 Runs (-120/+100)
Note: Odds from BetMGM Sportsbook. Subject to change.
After having his previous start cut short due to a rain delay, Los Angeles Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani will start on three days rest against the Kansas City Royals on Friday. KC is one of the worst teams in MLB and provides a perfect opportunity for LA to break its two-game losing streak.
Despite having two of the best baseball players of this generation on the same team, the Angels continue to fall short. With five losses in their last seven games, LA needs to pick up the pace if they hope to avoid losing Ohtani to trade or free agency. The first true two-way player we’ve ever seen in the modern era has the rest of the league salivating at the chance to sign him.
On the mound, Shotime is 2-0 in four starts with a microscopic 0.86 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP. It’s early, but Ohtani is on pace to have his best season pitching-wise of his MLB career.
Don’t expect a pitching duel tonight with reliever Taylor Clarke serving as the Royals’ opener in the series opener. Clarke hasn’t started a game since 2020 after being relegated to bullpen duty in KC. The move didn’t improve Clarke’s stats. He enters Friday’s start with a 6.75 ERA and a 2.00 WHIP.
Clarke gets a lot of strikeouts but gives up too many runs in return to be trustworthy. The Angels lineup has a combined .286 batting average against him, including four extra-base hits in 21 at-bats.
While using an opener is becoming more popular around the league, the strategy requires a strong bullpen. Openers don’t usually pitch more than an inning or two before handing the ball off. Kansas City has the worst bullpen ERA in MLB at 6.89 and is the last team that should be utilizing openers.
Best Bet: Angels vs. Royals
The Royals are among the worst teams in baseball right now and are almost impossible to trust with our MLB picks. KC is on a six-game losing streak, and we don’t expect things to get better on Friday with Ohtani on the mound. We’re not concerned about him pitching on three days rest after throwing 31 pitches on Monday. We expect him to dominate the Royals’ soft lineup.
Kansas City is not producing at the plate or on the mound and is a perfect target for LA to beat up on. Due to the mismatch on the mound, the Angels’ moneyline is -300 to win outright. Instead, take the Halos to cover the -2.5 spread at +110 odds.
A winning $100 bet on the Los Angeles runline would pay $110 in profit plus your initial $100 wager. This is a playable bet on a future Hall-of-Fame player to beat one of the worst teams in baseball.
Same-Game Parlay: Angels vs. Royals
If you are hunting for added value, putting a same-game parlay on your betting card could work.
This type of wager allows you to combine two or more bets from the same event into a single play. The advantage (potentially) is that the odds for the combined wager are higher than betting all plays separately. For more information, check out our same-game parlay guide.
Here’s three MLB props for this game to fill out our same-game parlay.
- Shohei Ohtani Over 7.5 Strikeouts (+110)
- Shohei Ohtani Over 0.5 Hits (-160)
- Bobby Witt Jr. Over 0.5 Stolen Bases (+280)
After combining these three bets into a same-game parlay, the odds at BetMGM Sportsbook jump to +1137. That’s good for a $1,237 total payout on a $100 winning long-shot bet.
Ohtani has been fantastic on the mound for the Angels, with 27 strikeouts in 21 innings pitched. He’s gone over 7.5 Ks twice in three games, excluding Monday’s rain-shortened start against the Boston Red Sox. Meanwhile, the Royals’ offense ranks 22nd with an average of 9.3 strikeouts per game.
The former MVP is tearing it up at the plate as well. He’s hit safely in four of five home games this year and should be able to get at least one knock against Kansas City’s shaky pitching staff, which has surrendered a .266 batting average thus far (fifth-highest in MLB).
Bobby Witt Jr. is one of the few bright spots on this Royals roster and rounds out our MLB prop bets for Friday’s same-game parlay. The speedy shortstop leads KC with five stolen bases and has yet to be thrown out. Baserunners have a 67.6% success rate when stealing second base off Ohtani, which bodes well for Witt’s chances at swiping a bag.
