The Kansas City Royals enter this game having lost four of their last five games and are on a three-game losing streak which includes a 1-3 series loss at home against the Seattle Mariners which ended with a 4-6 loss in game four of the series on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Cubs enter this game having won three of their last five games and are coming off a 1-1 series split at home against the Chicago White Sox which ended with Wednesday’s 4-3 win in game two of the series which also ended their two-game losing streak.

BookMaker has the Chicago Cubs listed as -180 money line favorites at home against the Kansas City Royals and has set the total for the over/under plays at 8.5 runs. Will the Royals end their three-game losing streak or will the Cubs get the win at home? Let’s take a deeper dive into how these teams are performing this season.

Kansas City Royals Team Preview

The Kansas City Royals enter this game with an overall record of 39-84 which puts them in 5^th place in the AL Central and are coming off a 4-6 loss in game four of their series against the Seattle Mariners.

Offensively, Kansas City scored four runs off nine hits with three of the runs coming in the 6^th inning which included Bobby Witt scoring off a base hit from Michael Massey.

The Royals will send Cole Ragans to the mound for game one of the series against the Cubs on Friday. Ragans is 3-4 this season with a 4.21 ERA while recording 51 strikeouts.

Chicago Cubs Team Preview

The Chicago Cubs enter this game with an overall record of 62-58 which puts them in 2^nd place in the NL Central and are coming off a 4-3 win against the Chicago White Sox in game two of their series.

Offensively, the Cubs scored four runs off six hits with three of the runs coming in the 9^th inning when Christopher Morel hit a three-run home run that also scored Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson.

Jameson Taillon will take the mound for Chicago against Kansas City on Friday for game one of the series. Taillon is 7-7 on the year with an ERA of 5.71 and has recorded 91 strikeouts.

Series Trends and Game Pick

Both teams are 5-5 in the last ten games in the series, however, Kansas City has outscored Chicago by an average of 4.7 to 2.8 runs per game in those matchups. The Royals have won the last three games in the series and have won by an average score of 6.33 to 1.67 in those contests.

The under has hit in seven of the last ten games in the series with the teams combining for an average of 7.5 runs per game in those contests. The under has hit in two of the last three games in the series with the teams combining for an average of 8 runs per game in those matchups.

Chicago enters this game with a better record, however, Kansas City has been the better team most recently in the series, winning the previous four matchups in a row. The Royals have outscored the Cubs by an average of 4.7 to 2.8 runs per game over the last ten and 6.33 to 1.67 runs per game in the last three games in the series. As a result, I am taking the run line for the Kansas City Royals at +1.5 on BookMaker for this matchup on Friday afternoon.

Spooky Express Pick: Kansas City Royals Run Line +1.5 (-128)