
Kansas City Royals

San Diego Padres
(+100/-120)-150
The San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals meet for the second game of their Interleague series at Petco Park on June 21, 2025. The Padres come in with a record of 40-35, sitting well above .500, while the Royals hover at a .500 record of 38-38. Both teams are looking for momentum, especially after the Padres lost the first game of the series.
On the mound for the Padres is Dylan Cease, a right-handed pitcher who’s had a challenging season so far, posting a 2-6 record with a mediocre 4.69 ERA this year. Despite his struggles, advanced statistics suggest he has been somewhat unlucky, as his 3.13 xFIP indicates he might perform better moving forward. He projects to pitch roughly 5.8 innings, allowing an average of 2.2 earned runs and striking out 6.3 batters, but he’ll need to tighten up his performance in allowing 4.6 hits and 1.7 walks per outing.
Opposing him is left-handed pitcher Noah Cameron, who has enjoyed a solid campaign with a 2-2 record and an outstanding 1.91 ERA over 7 starts. However, his 4.08 xFIP reveals a possible overachievement in performance, suggesting he may regress soon. Cameron’s projections have him lasting about 5.1 innings while allowing 2.7 earned runs, yet his low strikeout rate of 3.8 may play into the Padres’ hands, given their low strikeout tendencies.
The Padres’ offense ranks 20th overall in MLB while the Royals sit even lower at 27th, with both teams struggling to hit home runs—San Diego ranks 27th and Kansas City 29th in that category. With a Game Total currently set at a low 7.5 runs, this matchup appears to favor the Padres, particularly considering their strong bullpen, ranked 3rd overall in MLB. Given the current standings and the potential for a bounce-back performance from Cease, the Padres have a prime opportunity to capitalize on their home field advantage and turn things around in this series.
Kansas City Royals Insights
- Kansas City Royals – 1st Five Innings (F5) Moneyline (+120)Noah Cameron is an extreme flyball pitcher (33% FB% per the leading projection system, THE BAT) and will be disadvantaged pitching in the #9 HR venue in the majors in this game.Explain: This pitcher’s skill set does not match up particularly well with the park he’s in today, which may lead to worse-than-usual performance.
- Drew Waters – Over/Under 0.5 Total Bases (-115/-115)Drew Waters’s average exit velocity has fallen off lately; his 86.1-mph seasonal mark has dropped off to 80.3-mph over the past 14 days.Explain: Hitting the ball hard increases the chances of either a home run or the ball landing in fair territory for a hit before a fielder can get to it.
- Kansas City Royals – 2H MoneylineAccording to the leading projection system (THE BAT), the Kansas City Royals’ bullpen profiles as the 10th-best out of all teams in the majors.Explain: Most bettors only consider the starting pitcher, but a strong bullpen sneakily creates a tougher matchup for the opposing offense and suppresses a game’s runs.
San Diego Padres Insights
- Dylan Cease – Over/Under 6.5 Strikeouts (-120/-110)Contrary to popular belief, fastballs are generally a pitcher’s least effective pitch. Dylan Cease must realize this, because he has relied on his secondary pitches a lot this year: 59.3% of the time, ranking in the 79th percentile.Explain: A pitcher who limits has fastball usage will instead heavily use change-ups, curveballs, sliders, etc. These are far more effective pitches at preventing runs and generating strikeouts.
- Jose Iglesias – Over/Under 0.5 Total Bases (-190/+145)Extreme flyball hitters like Jose Iglesias are generally more successful against extreme groundball pitchers like Noah Cameron.Explain: This mostly has to do with the way the hitter’s swing plane interacts with the pitch trajectory, and it can create boosted performance across all categories and hidden value few are considering.
- Fernando Tatis Jr. – Over/Under 1.5 Total Bases (+110/-140)Fernando Tatis Jr. hits many of his flyballs to center field (39.7% — 95th percentile) and is fortunate to face baseball’s 2nd-shallowest CF fences in today’s matchup.Explain: This player’s skill set matches up particularly well with the park he’s in today, which may lead to better-than-usual performance.
Betting Trends
- San Diego Padres – Over/Under 3.5 Team Total (-140/+110)The San Diego Padres have hit the Team Total Over in 22 of their last 34 games at home (+8.90 Units / 22% ROI)
- Kansas City Royals – Over/Under 3.5 Team Total (+110/-140)The Kansas City Royals have hit the Team Total Under in 50 of their last 74 games (+24.90 Units / 29% ROI)
- Manny Machado – Over/Under 0.5 RBIs (+135/-180)Manny Machado has hit the RBIs Over in 14 of his last 25 games (+9.10 Units / 36% ROI)