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<b>Oakland A's (74-55) vs. Kansas City Royals (46-85) </b>
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The A's are still right in the thick of the American League wild-card race as they open a four-game series with the fading Royals in Kansas City Monday night. Oakland sits just a half-game out of a playoff spot, while KC has been relegated to playing spoiler. How are we playing this game with our free MLB pick?
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<h2>
MLB Betting Odds<br />
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Monday's MLB betting odds opened Oakland at around -155 over Kansas City, with an over/under of 9.5 runs. Early betting action then dipped that line down to -150.
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The A's could also be found at around -105 giving the run and a half on the MLB run line.
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<h2>
A's vs. Royals Set-Up<br />
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Oakland just got swept two games at home by San Francisco over the weekend, losing 10-5 Saturday and 5-4 Sunday. Just before that, though, the A's swept three games from the AL-East leading Yankees, and just before that they took three of four games from AL West-leading Houston. So Oakland is 7-3 over its last ten games.
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At 74-55 overall the A's trail the Astros by 9.5 games in the divisional race but they're only a half-game behind Tampa Bay in the battle for the second American League wild-card spot.
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Kansas City, meanwhile, just dropped two of three games at Cleveland over the weekend, avoiding the sweep with a 9-8 win in 10 innings Sunday. Just before that the Royals lost two of three to Baltimore, and just before that they lost two of three to the Mets. Going back a bit further Kansas City is 3-8 over its last 11 games.
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At 46-85 overall the Royals are just playing out the string on a lost season.
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This series is the first meeting between these teams this year.
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<h2>
Monday's Starting Arms<br />
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<a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/191356&quot; title="Brad Keller Pitching Logs">Keller</a> by our strict standards, is 12/27 on quality starts this season and three for his last four. Last Tuesday he held Baltimore scoreless on three hits through six innings, although KC eventually lost that game 4-1. And over his last nine starts, he's pitching at least six innings eight times, while allowing more than three earned runs just twice.
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On the season the Royals are only 9-18 with Keller and 0-5 over his last five starts, but that's nowhere near all his fault. He deserves better than that.
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In his only career start against the A's, back in June of last season, Keller allowed two runs and five hits through 5 1/3 innings of a 3-2 Kansas City loss.
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Former Royal <a href="https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/pitcherlog/39657&quot; title="Homer Bailey Pitching Logs">Bailey</a> is 9/25 on quality starts this year, 4/7 since joining Oakland in a trade with KC back in July. Last Tuesday he held the Yankees to one run and seven hits through 5 2/3 innings, with eight strikeouts against zero walks, in a 6-2 A's win. And just before that, he tossed seven scoreless innings against the Giants.
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The Royals, a team that's 39 games under .500 on the season, went 8-10 with Bailey this year, while Oakland is 5-2 with him.
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This will be Bailey's first-ever start against Kansas City, which could give him an edge, at least for the first couple of times through the lineup.
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<h2>
Monday's Batting Splits<br />
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Oakland is batting .240/.320/.428 against right-handed pitching this season.
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Kansas City is batting .245/.308/.401 against RH pitching this season.
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<h2>
The Bullpens<br />
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The Oakland bullpen owns a 4.13 ERA this season and a 1.30 WHIP while allowing a .715 OPS.
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The KC pen owns a 4.88 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP while allowing a .798 OPS.
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<h2>
Totals Report<br />
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Unders are 69-58 in A's games this season.
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Unders are 63-62 in Royals games this season.
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Overs are 34-26 in games played at Kauffman Stadium this season.
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<p><section></p>
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<span style="font-size:16px;"><b><span style="color:#008000;">Get more details:</span></b> <a class="advblue" href=" https://www.sportsbettingstats.com/mlb/matchup/1083038">A’s at Royals MLB Match-up Stats</a> </span>
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</ul>
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