The Toronto Blue Jays start a new series against the Kansas City Royals on Friday.
The pregame narrative: The Jays will send a red-hot Kevin Gausman to the mound to face off with Michael Wacha for the Royals. Toronto has lost three of its past four but still sits comfortably atop the AL East standings.
Check out my Royals vs. Blue Jays same-game parlay predictions for Aug. 1, featuring Bo Bichette and Adam Frazier.
Royals vs. Blue Jays predictions
Parlay: Gausman under 5.5 Ks | Bichette over 1.5 bases | Frazier over 0.5 hits (+430)
Gausman under 5.5 Ks (-167): The Blue Jays veteran righty has been dealing over his last few starts.
He has eight or more Ks in three of his past four starts while boasting a 2.28 ERA during that span.
So why fade Gausman? Well, he has a very tough matchup against the Royals. Kansas City strikes out fewer times per game (6.84) than every MLB team other than the Blue Jays.
For that reason, I believe Gausman will have a tough time whiffing bats, even if he has a strong performance.
Besides, even with the recent run of play, his 8.95 K/9 is around the MLB average. He isn’t the elite strikeout arm he used to be, and the Royals don’t K often.
I don’t necessarily expect Gausman to have a bad start, but I do expect some regression in the strikeout numbers.
The Royals have a 13.7% K rate vs. right-handed pitching over the past 10 games.
MLB SGP legs
Bichette over 1.5 bases (-106): Bichette came out of the all-star break on a tear.
- He has at least a hit in 12 of the last 13 games with a .362 average.
- He has cleared this line in eight of those 13 games.
And he gets a favourable matchup on Friday. He has five hits in 13 at-bats vs. Michael Wacha with a home run. That equates to a .615 SLG in those meetings.
Wacha has a below-average K-rate (18.4%) and a respectable 7.1% walk rate. He gets a lot of his outs with balls in play, which gives Bichette added opportunities to bat to ball.
Frazier over 0.5 hits (-134): The utility man has an extensive history against Gausman. In 44 at-bats, Frazier has 17 hits (.386).
On top of that, he only walked once and struck out six times. That means 38 of the 45 battles between these two have ended with a ball in play.
Since being traded to the Royals recently, Frazier has at least a knock in five of eight games with a .262 average.
He also bats much better with the platoon advantage:
- Vs. LHP: .161 average, .226 SLG
- Vs. RHP: .269 average, .352 SLG
Royals vs. Blue Jays predictions made at 11:21 a.m. ET on 08/01/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.