Dominating Pitchers Will Stifle Bad Offenses

Royals vs. Tigers, 6:10 ET

It has been all or nothing lately, and I’m not sure I want to complain too much about that because I’m getting a lot more days of all than I am getting of nothing. Monday I went 3-0, Tuesday 2-0, Wednesday 0-2, and Thursday 2-0. 7-2 over four days is solid, and it has been a good month and couple of weeks for me, but just an interesting trend. Even one of the losses I said I probably shouldn’t bet – and I shouldn’t have. I’m once again trying to get it all in the MLB today as the Royals take on the Tigers.

Believe it or not, these are the two best teams in the division. The Royals are a significantly better club than I thought they would be this year. They are hitting effectively enough, and getting timely hitting which is much more important. I do have some concern about how long they can keep this up as their On-Base Percentage is fairly low at just .306. For now, let’s enjoy the success because the good people of Kansas City haven’t had anything baseball related to cheer for in a while. One of their main successes has been from their pitching staff and they have a good guy going tonight as Brady Singer takes the hill. Singer has a 2-1 record with a 2.76 ERA and a very strong 0.95 WHIP. He isn’t a guy that is going to blow past you with his stuff, but he gets a reasonable number of strikeouts in most games. He is coming off his worst start of the season, a 5-3 loss to the Blue Jays where he allowed five earned runs over six innings. They probably left him in an inning too long in that one. The Tigers are 16-for-60 against him. 

ST LOUIS, MO - AUGUST 24: Casey Mize #12 of the Detroit Tigers pitches during the fifth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium on August 24, 2021 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Jeff Curry/Getty Images)

The Tigers are another team that has gotten off to a nice start. The truth is that five to ten games above .500 this season will probably win the division. As of right now, they are fairly evenly matched with the Royals. The Tigers have a lower batting average, On-Base Percentage and Slugging Percentage than the Royals, but are still very close in standings. Like the Royals, a lot of that has stemmed from the success of the pitching staff. They are even better than the Royals from that standpoint and have a 3.00 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. Casey Mize is taking the bump for them tonight. After being eased into the rotation, Mize has put up back-to-back quality starts and has only allowed seven total earned runs in 21.1 innings. Mize hasn’t had a ton of experience against the Royals, but as you’d probably expect Salvador Perez has the most experience, and success, against Mize. 

It is hard to envision either offense breaking out in this game. The Tigers could win it if Singer allows a homer, and the Royals could win it if Mize gives up a few hits in a row. I don’t have a ton of confidence in either team to take this game. Instead, the under is the clear choice here. We have two teams that aren’t scoring a ton of runs, and two strong pitchers. I’ll back the under here. 

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