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The San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals wrap up their three-game set on Sunday. For the Royals, it's a good chance to earn an important win against a team not really playing for the postseason. Thanks to some recent trends by a few teams, Kansas City is not assured of a postseason spot yet.
The Giants have not yet been eliminated from the postseason hunt, but they're on the verge as they are 10 games back of the wild-card spot right now. Nevertheless, as they did in the first two games of this series, they can play spoiler.
Giants vs. Royals recent form and records
The Kansas City Royals have hit a major slump at the worst time. They are 3-7 in their last 10 games and have lost six in a row. Those losses have been to the Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants, which figured to be an easier stretch of games for them.
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They're now just a half-game up on the Twins for the second wild-card berth and one game up on the Tigers, who are on the outside looking in. The Giants are 10 games back of the wild-card and 5-5 in their last 10.
Players to watch
Starting Pitchers
Blake Snell (4-3, 3.31 ERA, 136 strikeouts) vs. Seth Lugo (16-8, 3.05 ERA, 173 strikeouts)
Snell has a 1.08 WHIP and 136 strikeouts in 98 innings pitched.
Last Start: Six innings, one hit, no runs, two walks, and 12 strikeouts.
Career vs. Royals: 1-3 with an ERA of 7.27 and 18 strikeouts in 4 outings.
Lugo has a 1.11 WHIP and 173 strikeouts in 197.2 innings pitched.
Last Start: 4.2 innings, eight hits, four earned runs, two walks, four strikeouts.
Career vs. Giants: 4-2 with an ERA of 2.03 and 31 strikeouts in 16 outings.
Must-watch Hitters
Giants
Heliot Ramos has been excellent lately. The Giants outfielder has 15 hits this month, and 11 of them have gone for extra bases (five home runs, five doubles, one triple).
Mike Yastrzemski was a big reason the Giants won last night, as he slugged a three-run home run and has been hitting well of late.
Royals
Bobby Witt Jr. has been red-hot all year long and is very likely to win the AL batting title. In his pursuit, he has recorded 19 hits in 18 games during September.
Tommy Pham has also been hitting well of late. The outfielder has recorded 18 hits in 17 games played this month.
Giants vs. Royals Baseball Betting Odds
Giants vs. Royals expert picks and game prediction
The pitching matchup today is one of the best in recent memory. Both Blake Snell and Seth Lugo have been lights out. Snell has arguably pitched better, but Lugo has a much larger sample size. This doesn't provide much of an advantage to either team.
The offenses, however, should revert to the mean a little bit. This means that the Royals should be able to break through enough and the Giants shouldn't put up massive totals. That suggests that the Royals, who are unlikely to be swept anyway, will be able to secure a much-needed win.
Runline: Under 1.5
Total Runs: Under 7
Prediction: Royals 3, Giants 2
