Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals MLB Betting Preview | October 2

The Kansas City Royals are road underdogs (+185) against the Cleveland Guardians (-225) in the first game of the season at Progressive Field on Sunday. First pitch is at 1:40 PM ET. Shane Bieber starts for Cleveland while Kansas City will counter with Max Castillo.

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Game Info, Betting Lines for Guardians vs. Royals

• Game Day: Sunday, October 2, 2022
• Game Time: 1:40 PM ET
• Location: Cleveland, Ohio
• Stadium: Progressive Field

Guardians Stats & Trends

Guardians Batting

• The Guardians ranked 12th in baseball with 203 home runs last season. They averaged one per game.
• The Guardians had the 21st-ranked batting average in the majors (.238).
• Last season the Guardians scored the 18th-most runs in baseball (717 total, 4.4 per game).
• The team struck out 8.6 times per game, the No. 12 mark in baseball.
• The Guardians averaged 1.3 homers per home game last season (102 total at home).
• The Guardians averaged 2.8 extra-base hits per game while slugging .411 in home contests.
• The team batted .238 with 612 hits (7.6 per game) at home last season.

Guardians Key Batters

• Jose Ramirez had 147 hits and an OBP of .355 last season.
• Myles Straw slashed .271/.349/.348 and finished with an OPS of .697.
• Last season, Amed Rosario finished with a slugging percentage of .409, fueled by 42 extra-base hits.
• Josh Naylor slashed .253/.301/.399 and finished with an OPS of .700.

Royals Stats & Trends

Royals Batting

• The Royals’ 163 home runs ranked 27th in MLB last season.
• The Royals’ .249 batting average was among the best in baseball, ranking sixth in MLB.
• The Royals scored 686 runs (4.2 per game) last season, which ranked 24th in MLB.
• The Royals ranked third in MLB in strikeouts per game with an average of 7.8 whiffs per contest.
• They hit 87 homers, an average of 1.1 per game, in 81 road contests last season.
• They slugged .382 in 81 road games last season.
• They averaged eight base hits per game and had a .236 batting average on the road last season.

Royals Key Batters

• Salvador Perez accumulated a slugging percentage of .544 with 169 hits a season ago.
• Nicky Lopez had a .365 on-base percentage and batted .300.
• Hunter Dozier hit .216 with 27 doubles, six triples, 16 home runs and 43 walks a season ago.
• Michael A. Taylor hit .244 with 16 doubles, a triple, 12 home runs and 33 walks.

Guardians vs. Royals Probable Pitchers