After both the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets scored double-digit runs to close out the respective series on Thursday, the two will hook up on Friday in Queens, NY looking to keep the momentum going.
Kansas City Royals vs. New York Mets (-125, 8)
The Mets give Luis Severino the start on Friday, who’s been one of the least effective starting pitchers in baseball since the 2023 season began, posting a 6.34 ERA and 5.78 fielding independent with a .302 opponents batting average and 2.2 home runs per nine innings allowed.
The task for Severino is to shut down an offense that is averaging over 5.5 runs per game, ranking in the league’s top eight in runs per game, entering Thursday ranked fourth in the league in home runs per at-bat.
While the Royals’ offense has been pretty solid outside of their first series of the season against the Minnesota Twins, the Mets were scuffling at the plate before writing in their last series against the Atlanta Braves, highlighted by a 16-4 win on Thursday.
Prior to Thursday, the Mets were averaging the fewest runs per game with 3.45, but the Baseball Savant expected stats point towards positivity for the team as their current batting average entering Thursday was .218 while their expected batting average was .227.
The Mets will look to keep their offense rolling against veteran starting pitcher Michael Wacha, who is on his sixth different team in six seasons but is experiencing a career renaissance at the moment.
Since the beginning of the 2022 season, Wacha has a 26-6 record with a 3.22 ERA, but the fielding independent of 3.95 and .259 batting average on balls in play are warning signs that regression is likely to come.
Both teams had two of the league’s worst bullpens a season ago with the Royals 5.23 ERA ranking 29th out of 30 MLB teams while the Mets 22nd in this category with a 4.45 ERA while dealing with Edwin Diaz missing the 2023 season.
With both offenses entering this series hot coupled with the struggles for Severino, big offense will keep their bats hot on Friday.
The Play: Royals vs. Mets Over 8 Runs
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