MLB Baseball
2012-07-16 - Seattle Mariners at Kansas City Royals
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
United States: Major League Baseball
Monday 16 July 2012 - First Pitch 8:10pm ET
1:10am (British Standard Time)
Preview
These two American League rivals clash in the first of a four game set, but neither has a real ambition of making it into the post-season as they are heavily behind in their respective Divisions as well as the Wild Card race. The Seattle Mariners (37-53) have the second worst record in the American League, while the Kansas City Royals (38-49) have the third worst record.
Neither team has shown enough consistency at the plate and that has led to their troubles and both are amongst the lowest run scorers in the American League. That puts additional pressure on the pitching staff to keep the team in games.
Kansas City will be sending Jonathan Sanchez to the mound in a bid to improve his 1-5 record and his 6.75 ERA. He has spent some time on the disabled list this season, but has not recorded a win this his first start of the season.
Sanchez is 0-3 with a 7.89 ERA in his last four starts for the Royals and he will be making his first start against Seattle.
Jason Vargas will take the ball for Seattle and he has an 8-7 record and a 4.07 ERA this season. However, he comes into this one having gone 1-0 and having a 1.52 ERA in his last three starts for the Mariners.
Vargas is also 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in his last two starts against Kansas City.
Head to Head
This is the first game between these teams this season. They will play four games in Kansas City and four games in Seattle later this month.
Seattle won on their last visit to Kansas City, but they had lost three in a row before that. The teams have split the last ten games here 5-5.
Kansas City are 15-25 at home this season, Seattle are 20-26 on the road.
Prediction
The problem with bad teams is that they can fall apart at any given moment, but the Seattle Mariners seem to have an edge on the pitching mound and that should give them a chance to improve their road record.
The game has been set as a pick 'em mainly because the Mariners batting line up are consistently inconsistent, but Jason Vargas has been good enough in recent games to suggest he will give them a chance and that is what I will be backing.
The Pick :
Kansas City Royals 2-3 Seattle Mariners
FIXED ODDS BETTING TIP :
I'll back the Seattle Mariners @ 1.95
