The Royals make the trip to Los Angeles to face the Angels! These two teams are trending in different directions with the Royals being a surprise team in the AL, while the Angels are struggling. Our MLB odds series has our Royals-Angels prediction, odds, and pick for Thursday.

The Royals have played well to start the year with a 22-16 record. Their pitching is a top-10 unit, as compared to their batting which is in the middle of the pack. Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha coming over from San Diego have made a potent pitching combination to go with Brady Singer and Cole Ragans. The bats have also improved, but still need work. Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. have been the main standouts on the Royals behind the plate, but Maikel Garcia, Vinnie Pasquantino, and MJ Melendez have also played decent behind the plate. The Royals have played well so far this season and face a struggling Angels team in this spot.

The Angels are struggling this season with a 14-23 record. Losing Shohei Ohtani has hurt their offense, but the offense is still ranked in the top half of the MLB. Their pitching has struggled in comparison. Taylor Ward, Zach Neto, Logan O'Hoppe, Mike Trout, and Anthony Rendon have tried to lead a middling offense. On the mound, Tyler Anderson and Reid Detmers have played well for a unit that has struggled to start the year. The Angels have a tough game against a good Royals team.

Here are the MLB Odds, courtesy of FanDuel. 

MLB Odds: Royals-Angels Odds

Kansas City Royals: -1.5 (+138)

Moneyline: -112

Los Angeles Angels: +1.5 (-166)

Moneyline: -104

Over: 8.5 (+100)

Under: 8.5 (-122)

How to Watch Royals vs. Angels

Time: 9:38 pm ET

TV: FOX Sports 1 / FOX Sports West

Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)

Why The Royals Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Royals are going with Michael Wacha to start on the mound. He has a 1-4 record, a 5.50 ERA, and a 1.46 WHIP. Through 37.2 innings, he has allowed 23 runs on 45 hits with 10 walks and 31 strikeouts. He has appeared in seven total games so far this season and the Royals are 2-5 in those games. In his last start, he struggled and pitched 3.2 innings and allowed seven runs on nine hits with one walk and three strikeouts in a Royals loss.

The Royals' offense has been inconsistent this season. They are 16th in team batting average at .239 after finishing last season with a .244 batting average overall. Their offensive output has been led by Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr. in all of the batting categories. Witt Jr. leads the way in batting average at .327, in OBP at .394, and in total hits at 48. Perez then leads the way in home runs at eight and in RBI at 31. The Royals just need their offense to be solid against a pitcher as good as Reid Detmers has been this season on the Angels.

Why The Angels Will Cover The Spread/Win

The Angels are putting Reid Detmers on the mound where he has a 3-3 record, a 4.24 ERA, and a 1.21 WHIP up to this point in the season. Through 40.1 innings, he has allowed 20 runs on 35 hits with 14 walks and a total of 44 strikeouts. In his seven appearances this season, the Angels have gone 4-3. In his last start, Detmers pitched 5.2 innings where he allowed seven runs on five hits with four walks and seven strikeouts in a loss. This is a good matchup for Detmers because the Royals' offense has been inconsistent and just okay at best.

The Angels' offense has been much better than expected this season without Shohei Ohtani. They are 13th in team batting average at .243 after finishing last season with a .254 batting average. The offense is led by Logan O'Hoppe, Mike Trout, and Taylor Ward in most of the batting stats. O'Hoppe leads in batting average at .278 and in OBP at .328. Taylor Ward leads in RBI at 24 and in total hits at 39, while Mike Trout leads with 10 home runs up to this point in the season, despite his injury. This is a decent matchup because Michael Wacha has struggled a bit this season after coming over from the Padres where he had a very good season last year.

Final Royals-Angels Prediction & Pick

The Royals are the better team in this game up to this point in the year. Michael Wacha has struggled at times, but he is not that much worse so far this season than Reid Detmers for the Angels. The Angels are the better offense than the Royals too. The Angels should cover this game and potentially win it thanks to Detmers on the mound and with the game being at home.

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Final Royals-Angels Prediction & Pick: Angels +1.5 (-166)