Royals vs Blue Jays Odds, Betting Lines, and Probable Pitchers
- The Toronto Blue Jays are -220 home favorites over the Kansas City Royals in an American League game on Saturday, July 31
- Toronto beat KC 6-4 on Friday in the game played at Rogers Centre since September 29, 2019
- The Royals haven’t won a game in Toronto since June 30, 2019 – see who we like in this matchup below
The Toronto Blue Jays (52-48, 23-22 home) finally have a decided home-field advantage again, as the Kansas City Royals (45-57, 17-32) found out Friday.
Playing their first game at Rogers Center in 670 days due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Jays downed the Royals 6-4. It was the first MLB game played in Canada since September 29, 2019. Toronto is unbeaten in Canada over the past 671 days.
The Jays will look to make it 672 and oddsmakers are of the opinion that they will. Toronto is the -220 favorite to defeat the Royals on Saturday afternoon. Among AL teams, only the Texas Rangers (13) have won fewer road games than the Royals (17).
Saturday’s game will be the second of an 11-game homestand for Toronto.
Royals vs Blue Jays Odds
| Team | Moneyline | Runline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas City Royals | +180 | +1.5 (+100) | O 10.5 (-105) |
| Toronto Blue Jays | -220 | -1.5 (-120) | U 10.5 (-115) |
Odds as of July 30 at DraftKings
First pitch on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Centre is slated for 3:07pm ET. Rain is in the forecast, so expect the roof to be closed. There will be 1 mph wind and a temperature of 62 degrees.
Minor vs Manoah
| 8-8 | Record | 2-1 |
| 5.32 | ERA | 2.90 |
| 4.36 | xERA | 3.23 |
| 1.27 | WHIP | 1.06 |
| 3.19 | SO/W Ratio | 3.57 |
Royals left-hander Mike Minor leads the AL with 21 games started. He’s also quite adept at factoring in the outcome. Minor has figured in the decision in each of his last 10 starts.
He’s won his last two decisions to pull back to .500 on the season. Minor also worked at least six innings in three of his past four trips to the mound. However, Minor’s ERA has jumped from 4.48 to 5.32 over his past six starts.
#Royals win 4-3. A season high 6-game winning streak. Mike Minor 6IP 2R. 5th quality start in last 6 games for KC. Jorge Soler 2nd straight 2-HR game. 6HR in last 6. Andrew Benintendi went deep. Scott Barlow 2IP save. Royals end 10-gm losing streak at home vs Sox. Record is 43-55
— Joel Goldberg (@goldbergkc) July 27, 2021
Minor took a 5-1 setback against the Blue Jays on April 11. Overall, though, he’s 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in his career against Toronto.
Blue Jays right-hander Manoah was displaying plenty of promise prior to going on the IL. He’ll make his first start since being activated on Saturday. Manoah suffered a right back contusion when he slipped and fell on the dugout steps in Buffalo.
Manoah has struck out 52 against just 15 walks in 40.1 innings pitched. That’s an average of 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings.
Alek Manoah discussing Marcus Stroman & Liam Hendriks. 😀
Manoah is my guest on this week's PitchingNinja Show.
Fantastic dude. Don't miss it.Be sure to subscribe: https://t.co/GfuvxyNSTp pic.twitter.com/A7hwytm6j5
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 26, 2021
The Blue Jays have won five of his eight big-league starts. Manoah’s .184 xBA rates him among the top 6% in the league.
He’d settled in nicely as Toronto’s third starter behind Hyun-Jin Ryuh and Robbie Ray prior to his mishap on the stairs.
Batting Average vs Starting Pitchers
| Blue Jays Batters | Batting Average vs Minor | Royals Batters | Batting Average vs Manoah |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bo Bichette | .000 | Hanser Alberto | .000 |
| Cavan Biggio | .000 | Andrew Benintendi | .000 |
| Santiago Espinal | .000 | Hunter Dozier | .000 |
| Randal Grichuk | .364 | Jarrod Dyson | .000 |
| Vladimir Guerrero Jr | .333 | Lucius Fox | .000 |
| Lourdes Gurriel Jr | .333 | Cam Gallagher | .000 |
| Teoscar Hernandez | .167 | Nicky Lopez | .000 |
| Alejandro Kirk | .333 | Whit Merrifield | .000 |
| Reese McGuire | .000 | Ryan O’Hearn | .000 |
| Marcus Semien | .143 | Salvador Perez | .000 |
| George Springer | .375 | Carlos Santana | .000 |
| Breyvic Valera | .000 | Michael A Taylor | .000 |
Several Blue Jays players have enjoyed their plate appearances against Minor. Outfielder George Springer is 9-for-24 (.375) with a home run and two RBI. Fellow outfielder Randal Grichuk is 4-for-11 (.364).
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. recorded his 300th career hit in his 281st game, tying Vernon Wells for the fastest to 300 career hits among players to record their first 300 hits with #WeAreBlueJays. pic.twitter.com/oeXgIGCaND
— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) July 29, 2021
First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr is 2-for-6 (.333) with a solo homer. Guerrero went 5-for-13 with a pair of homers when the Jays faced Kansas City in April.
Catcher Alejandro Kirk and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel are both 1-for-3 (.333).
No Royals batter has ever faced Manoah.
Royals vs Blue Jays Pick
The Royals couldn’t have been pleased when they got the word from MLB that they’d be the first team to visit Toronto since baseball paused for COVID-19 last year. Toronto was forced to relocate south of the border. The Blue Jays ended up playing the majority of their home games at Buffalo’s Sahlen Field.
The Blue Jays are the first big-league team to play home games in three different cities (Toronto, Buffalo, Dunedin) since Detroit and Cleveland did it in 1903.
Kansas City has lost seven of eight at Toronto. Overall, the Royals are 6-12 in their last 18 against the Blue Jays.
Pick: Toronto Blue Jays (-190).
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
