The Cleveland Guardians (74-71) will host the Kansas City Royals (74-72), in the final game of a four-game series, Thursday at 7:15 p.m. ET.
The Royals (+118 underdog on the moneyline to win) are away versus the Guardians (-140). The Cleveland Guardians will give the start to Gavin Williams (10-5, 3.17 ERA), who is looking for win No. 11 on the season, and the Royals will turn to Stephen Kolek (5-5, 3.88 ERA).
Yesterday, the Royals picked up a 4-3 victory over the Guardians, with Luinder Avila (2.0 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 K) earning the win for the Royals. Maikel Garcia went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI to lead the offensive attack. Tim Herrin (0.1 IP, 2 R, 1 H, 0 K) took the loss for the Guardians.
Before the Guardians vs. Royals matchup, here is what you need to get ready for Thursday’s baseball action, including viewing options.
Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals odds, line and spread
MLB odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Thursday at 3:16 a.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
Favorite: Guardians (-140, bet $140 to win $100)Underdog: Royals (+118, bet $100 to win $118)Over/under: 7.5Guardians vs. Royals: Game time and live stream infoGame day: Thursday, September 11, 2025Game time: 7:15 p.m. ETLocation: Cleveland, OhioStadium: Progressive FieldTV channel: FOXLive stream: Watch LIVE with Fubo! (Regional restrictions may apply)
Watch Guardians vs. Royals on Fubo!
Guardians stats and trendsGuardians betting recordsThis season, the Guardians have won 36 out of the 60 games, or 60%, in which they’ve been favored.Cleveland has entered 16 games this season favored by -140 or more and is 11-5 in those contests.The oddsmakers’ moneyline implies a 58.3% chance of a victory for the Guardians.Games involving Cleveland have gone over the total set by oddsmakers in 62 of 143 chances this season.The Guardians are 74-69-0 against the spread in their 143 chances this season.Gavin Williams (Guardians probable starter)Williams (10-5) takes the mound for the Guardians in his 29th start of the season. He has a 3.17 ERA in 150 2/3 innings pitched, with 146 strikeouts.The righty’s most recent time out came on Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays, when he went seven innings, surrendering one earned run while allowing seven hits.In 28 games this season, the 26-year-old has a 3.17 ERA and 8.7 strikeouts per nine innings, while giving up a batting average of .215 to opposing hitters.Williams is looking for his third quality start in a row.Williams will aim to last five or more innings for his third straight start. He’s averaging 5.4 frames per outing.He has had six appearances this season in which he held his opponents to zero earned runs.He meets a Royals offense that ranks 28th in the league with 557 runs while batting .244 as a unit. It has a collective .390 slugging percentage (23rd in MLB action) and has hit a total of 138 home runs (27th in MLB).Williams has a 3.27 ERA and a 1.091 WHIP against the Royals this season in 11 innings pitched, allowing a .231 batting average over two appearances.Among qualifying pitchers in MLB play this season, the 26-year-old ranks 18th in ERA (3.17), 38th in WHIP (1.294), and 26th in K/9 (8.7).Guardians batting statsThe Guardians have hit 148 homers this season, which ranks 22nd in the league.Hitters for Cleveland have combined to rank 29th in MLB with a team slugging percentage of just .370 this season.The Guardians have a team batting average of just .225 this season, which ranks last among MLB teams.Cleveland has scored the fourth-fewest runs in the majors this season with just 567 (3.9 per game).The Guardians have an on-base percentage of .297 this season, which ranks 29th in the league.Cleveland ranks 14th with an average of 8.3 strikeouts per game.Royals stats and trendsRoyals betting recordsThe Royals have been underdogs in 82 games this season and have come away with the win 38 times (46.3%) in those contests.This year, Kansas City has won 18 of 37 games when listed as at least +118 or worse on the moneyline.The moneyline set for this matchup implies the Royals have a 45.9% chance of walking away with the win.Kansas City’s games have gone over the total in 61 of its 146 opportunities.The Royals have posted a record of 72-74-0 against the spread this season.Stephen Kolek (Royals probable starter)Kolek (5-5) takes the mound first for the Royals in his 17th start of the season. He’s put together a 3.88 ERA in 92 2/3 innings pitched, with 63 strikeouts.In his last outing on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins, the righty tossed seven innings, allowing two earned runs while surrendering six hits.The 28-year-old has a 3.88 ERA and 6.1 strikeouts per nine innings during 16 games this season, while allowing a batting average of .254 to opposing hitters.Kolek is trying to build on a third-game quality start streak in this game.Kolek will try to extend a seven-game streak of pitching five or more innings (he’s averaging 5.8 frames per appearance).In four of his appearances this season he did not surrender an earned run.He will face a Guardians offense that ranks 27th in the league with 567 total runs scored while batting .225 as a squad. His opponent has a collective .370 slugging percentage (29th in MLB play) and has hit a total of 148 home runs (22nd in the league).Royals batting statsThe Royals have hit 138 home runs this season, the fourth-lowest total in MLB action.This season, Kansas City ranks 23rd in the majors, slugging .390.The Royals rank 18th in MLB with a .244 batting average.The offense for Kansas City is No. 28 in MLB action scoring 3.8 runs per game (557 total runs).The Royals’ .305 on-base percentage is 24th in MLB.