Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals Picks & Predictions (7/26): Bubic Sits Guards Down

Our Friday Night System play got rained out last night, so the Cleveland Guardians and Kansas City Royals play a double header today. While our bets from last night are still in action (same pitchers, game played within 24 hours of schedule time), we will also have boots on the ground for the second game later this evening, so we needed another pick.

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Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals: MLB Picks & Predictions

Both teams desperately need a win, as they sit almost double digit games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. Cleveland leads this regular season series 4-2, but could the Royals pull off the sweep and catch them?

Matchup Information – Guardians vs. Royals – July 26

• Venue & Location: Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, MO)
• Date: Saturday, July 26, 2025
• First Pitch: 7:15 p.m. Eastern
• Broadcast: FOX

Pitching Matchup

• Cleveland Guardians: Tanner Bibee (6-9, 4.27 ERA, 1.22 WHIP)
• Kansas City Royals: Kris Bubic (8-6, 2.38 ERA, 1.14 WHIP)

Guardians vs. Royals Betting Odds

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Run Line

• Guardians +1.5 (-186)
• Royals -1.5 (+162)

Moneyline

• Guardians +118
• Royals -130

Total

• Over 8 (-105)
• Under 8 (-115)

I'll admit it's a bit tough trying to handicap the second game of a doubleheader, but we're going to give it the ole college try. It helps we know the starters already, and things didn't get switched up because of the rain last night.

This means Gavin Williams and Michael Wacha are slotted to start this afternoon, just as they would've last night, leaving the Saturday Night start to Tanner Bibee and Kris Bubic.

I'll be targeting Bubic in this matchup, thinking he can easily get over his strikeout number.

Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals MLB Best Bets

Guardians vs. Royals MLB Prediction: Royals Win, Over 8

Best Bet: Kris Bubic Over 5.5 Strikeouts (+100) BetOnline

All we need is six from the kid.

Bubic already averages 1.02 strikeouts per inning, and has thrown 115 so far this season. He's hit six in 12/19 starts this year (63.2%), and the Guardians severely struggle against left handed pitching. Let's talk percentages.

Cleveland is No. 18 in the MLB in strikeouts, doing so about 25% of the time. On the road, that percentage drops to 23.8%, where they rank No. 23 in the league. But here's where it gets dicey.

Against left handed pitching, the Guardians rank No. 2 in the entire league, striking out nearly 27% of the time. While those numbers don't seem like much, it adds up over the long haul, and it's enough for me to think Bubic can clear this line. His splits technically get slightly worse at Kauffman, but his strikeouts per inning increased to 1.05.

He had just two in five innings against the Marlins, but this season he has cleared this line in as little as 5.1 innings, and has pitched a full seven innings on six separate occasions. I think we only need six innings tonight from Bubic, but he should be able to sit down the Guardians bats.

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