Tigers Have Guthrie’s Number, Take Them in MLB Betting Saturday

After the opening month of the MLB betting season, a few teams have opened up pretty healthy leads atop their respective divisions. Things are sure to change as the season progresses, but it’s certainly nice to set the tone early. The AL Central is one division with no clear leader, as the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers are involved in an early two horse race. These two teams will play a 3-game series in KC over the weekend, with game 2 set for Saturday afternoon.

Detroit vs Kansas City: MLB Betting Preview and Game Analysis

Date: Saturday, May 09, 2015 Time: 1:08PM Venue: Comerica Park Opening Line: Detroit -155 The Kansas City Royals (18-10) were the surprise team of the year last, falling just short of a championship at the final hurdle. The general consensus was that if they could add some pop to their line-up, they might just be able to go one better this year. That is exactly what they have done, and the Royals are now one of the most balanced teams in all of baseball. You need only look at their +43 run differential to see that they are getting the job done on offense and defense. The Royals have been slipping a little in their defense, but are making that up by hitting opponents very hard. Jeremy Guthrie (1-2, 6.52 ERA) will get the start on Sunday, and will need to improve on his last outing, which came against Detroit, where he was dinged for 11 hits and 6 earned runs. The Detroit Tigers (18-11) will be looking to bounce back after dropping 2 of 3 to the Chicago White Sox in their last series. Prior to that series, Detroit played 4 games against the Royals, digging themselves a deep hole by losing the first 2 games. They were able to bounce back to win the final 2, which is part of the reason why this division remains so tight. Both teams will be looking to get the upper hand in this series, as the Minnesota twins are starting to show some signs of life, and are closing the gap at the top. Anibal Sanchez (2-3, 5.11 ERA) will get the start for the Tigers. Sanchez was solid in his last outing, which was a win against the Royals.

Key Betting Trends

Detroit is 2-4-1 SU in its last 7 games at home Detroit is 2-3-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing Kansas City Kansas City is 2-3-1 SU in its last 6 games Kansas City is 2-3-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road Kansas City is 5-10-1 SU in its last 16 games when playing Detroit Kansas City is 1-3-1 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Detroit

What Should You Bet On?

The Tigers did an excellent job of getting to Jeremy Guthrie the last time they faced him, and I think it could be more of the same here. I like the Tigers to win this one in what I believe will be a high-scoring affair.   Sources ESPN.com (http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/5370/jeremy-guthrie) Yahoo.com (http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/7701/)