Astros Will Put Up A Different Tune Against Singer

Royals vs. Astros, 8:10 ET

If you haven't paid attention to the baseball season, you probably are missing out on a bunch of the drama with the postseason races. This season hasn't had too many teams come out of nowhere to get back into the postseason race. For the most part, the best teams in the league have been the best teams in the league for most of the season. Tonight we get a game between two teams that look to be destined for the postseason. I suppose it is possible both the Royals and Astros miss the playoffs, but that seems unlikely. 

The Royals have been one of the better teams in baseball for the entire season and put together quite the turnaround from last year. You're talking about a team that lost 106 games last year. They've already won 75 games this year so they are destined for at least a 20 games improvement from last year and likely will get closer to 30 more wins than last season. The offense for the Royals has significantly improved this year, and they are scoring with not only the long ball, but station to station baseball. Coming into the season, I thought they were going to struggle significantly, but the team has worked well together and put together a great season. Even the pitching has been very good this year, but I'm not sure the rotation would scare many opponents in the playoffs. Today they get a guy who is likely to be their second or third pitcher in a series, Brady Singer. I've sung Brady's praises for a few years now, and it seems like he might be coming into his own. Puns aside, the guy is actually dealing this year, with a 9-9 record, 3.38 ERA (good for 20th in the league), 141 strikeouts (35th), and 1.25 WHIP (47th). After a strong July, his August has been tough. He faced two likely playoff teams and another, the Red Sox, that is chasing the Royals in the Wild Card Race. In three games against the Phillies, Twins, and Red Sox, he has allowed 15 earned runs in 15.2 innings. His other start was a six-inning scoreless outing against the Reds. He faced Houston earlier in the year and allowed just one earned run on five hits over five innings in a 13-3 Royals win.

Apr 17, 2024; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer (51) throws the ball during game one of a double header against the Chicago White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field. Mandatory Credit: Melissa Tamez-USA TODAY Sports

The Astros are one of the few teams that did have an in-season turnaround and now looks like they will make the playoffs. Thanks to the injuries that cost the Rangers most of their season, and the lack of a competent offense from Seattle, Houston was able to overcome a rough start and now leads the division. It is highly unlikely that two teams from the AL West will make the playoffs so I am fairly certain it will be just the Astros if they do in fact close out as division winners. To the Astros credit, they've navigated injuries and made adjustments along the way to pair a very good offense with a pitching staff that has improved as the season has gone on. Tonight they send out Hunter Brown to the mound in hopes of starting the series against the Royals off with a win. Brown has put together a strong campaign with an 11-7 record, 3.72 ERA (35th best in the league), 151 strikeouts (20th), and a 1.32 WHIP (56th). He doesn't have overly drastic splits, but he has been slightly better at home this season than on the road. That's pretty normal for a younger pitcher. This month he has been great with just five earned runs allowed in 24.1 innings. He was on the wrong side of that 13-3 Royals loss that I mentioned above. In that game, he managed to get just two outs and allowed nine earned runs on 11 hits. 

I expect a different outcome in this game. The Royals kind of blitzed the Astros in that first matchup between these two pitchers, but that's a lot less likely to happen again. Brown has put together a solid campaign overall, and outside of a few starts where he looks very bad, he has been one of the better pitchers for Houston. I'm going to back Brown and the Astros to get a bit of vengeance here and get a win over the Royals, but I'll take the run line because at -162, I actually think there is better value on the Royals. I just don't think they win this one. Back the Astros at -1.5 +136. 

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