The Toronto Blue Jays have paid off on the baseball betting lines at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com in six of their past eight road dates with the Kansas City Royals as they prepare to open a four-game road series at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday.
The Blue Jays will be looking to win three games in a row for the first time this season on Thursday, as they closed out their first homestand of the campaign with consecutive victories over the New York Yankees. That series was capped by an entertaining 5-4 walk-off victory as +130 underdogs at online sports betting sites on Wednesday afternoon.
Toronto is hoping the momentum from that win carries over into this weekend's series with the Royals, who they have beaten in four straight contests going into Thursday night's matchup.
The Blue Jays' success against New York marked a welcome turnaround. Toronto enjoyed a fast start to the season by taking two of three from the Yankees in New York, but the club followed up by posting just two wins in six contests prior to their current two-game surge.
Injuries have emerged as a problem for the Blue Jays. In addition to remaining without slugger George Springer, who continues to be sidelined by a quad injury, the Toronto pitching staff has struggled to remain healthy. Ross Stripling was pulled from his scheduled start against the Yankees on Wednesday due to forearm tightness, and closer Julian Merryweather has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained oblique.
With the team clinic getting crowded, a weekend in Kansas City comes at just the right time. The Blue Jays have claimed victory in 11 of their past 14 meetings with the Royals, according to the OddsShark MLB Database, and outscored Kansas City by a wide 20-6 margin while completing a three-game sweep in their last visit to Kauffman Stadium back in July 2019.
While the Blue Jays seek to extend their winning ways despite battling some injuries, the Royals will enter Thursday night's action looking to extend their fast start on home turf.
The Royals wrapped up a three-game set against the visiting Los Angeles Angels in convincing fashion on Wednesday afternoon with a 6-1 victory as a +110 wager, and have earned the win in four of six home dates this season. Overall, the Royals have been dominant on home turf since the late stages of last season, where they closed the season strong on an 8-2 run.
