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Rays at Royals prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends, and stats for June 26

It’s Thursday, June 26 and the Rays (45-35) are in Kansas City to take on the Royals (38-42). Shane Baz is slated to take the mound for Tampa Bay against Michael Lorenzen for Kansas City.

Tampa Bay took game two of the series, 3-0, after winning 5-1 on Tuesday. The Rays are 4-1 in the last five games and looking to either tie or win their fifth-straight series as they’re rocking a 9-3 mark in the last 12 games.

Kansas City has lost four consecutive games and is 4-4 in the last eight outings, but 4-10 in the previous 14. The Royals are in a bad stretch as the offense has mustered four total runs in the last four games.

Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two. We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

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Game details & how to watch Rays at Royals

Date: Thursday, June 26, 2025
Time: 2:10PM EST
Site: Kauffman Stadium
City: Kansas City, MO
Network/Streaming: FDSNSUN, FDSNKC

Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.

Odds for the Rays at the Royals

The latest odds as of Thursday:

Moneyline: Rays (-124), Royals (+104)
Spread: Rays -1.5
Total: 10.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Rays at Royals

Pitching matchup for June 26, 2025: Shane Baz vs. Michael Lorenzen
- Rays: Shane Baz, (7-3, 4.79 ERA)
  Last outing: 5.1 Innings Pitched, 5 Earned Runs Allowed, 4 Hits Allowed, 4 Walks, and 6 Strikeouts
- Royals: Michael Lorenzen, (4-7, 4.81 ERA)
  Last outing: 5.1 Innings Pitched, 2 Earned Runs Allowed, 5 Hits Allowed, 3 Walks, and 4 Strikeouts

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Expert picks & predictions for tonight’s game between the Rays and the Royals

Rotoworld Best Bet

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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.

Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.

Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Thursday’s game between the Rays and the Royals:

Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Tampa Bay Rays on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Kansas City Royals at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play on the Game Total of 10.0.

Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC.

Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Rays at Royals

The Rays have won 6 of their last 8 on the road, while the Royals have lost 9 straight home games
5 of the Royals’ last 6 home games stayed under the Total
The Rays have covered in 4 of their last 5 games for a profit of 2.83 units
Tampa Bay is 9-3 in the last 12 games
Kansas City is 0-4 in the past four games

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!

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