Sunday Night Baseball: Angels vs. Royals
There are 16 games across the MLB card on Sunday and the last first pitch will hopefully be the Sunday Night Baseball on Peacock matchup featuring Angels vs. Royals. Severe weather in the Midwest, Great Plains, and down into Texas has been a major concern and has led to some pretty violent thunderstorms, so this game was moved to 4:10 p.m. ET.
The hope is that the extra runway will get this game started and finished at some point throughout the night, as the Angels head to Chicago to open up a series with the White Sox and the Royals have an off day to travel to Sacramento. Despite the time change, the game will still be seen on Peacock, it will just be more like Sunday Afternoon Baseball instead of Sunday Night.
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See player prop projections for Angels vs. Royals from OptaAI.
How to Watch Angels vs. Royals
Where: Peacock
When: Sunday April 26, 4:10 p.m. ET
Angels vs. Royals MLB Odds
Kansas City Royals -120 // Los Angeles Angels +100
Total: 8.5 (-115/-105)
Angels vs. Royals Game Preview
The Royals may be starting to turn things around a little bit as they look to complete the sweep in this series. They’ve won three of their last four games on the heels of an eight-game losing streak. The Angels, meanwhile, have hit the skids with losses in six of their last seven after getting off to an 11-10 start.
In hopes of stopping the bleeding, the Halos will turn to Reid Detmers, who is back in the rotation after spending last season in the bullpen. Over 61 relief appearances last season, Detmers posted a 3.96 ERA with a 3.60 xERA and a 3.12 FIP in 63.2 innings and was able to better harness his best pitches while also executing in leverage situations. There is a growing number of starting pitchers who began as starters, converted to the bullpen, and then went back to starting that have had success, including guys like Clay Holmes, Grant Holmes, Carlos Carrasco, and others.
Detmers has a 4.08 ERA with a 64.1% LOB%, as his 2.76 xERA and 3.05 FIP suggest better times ahead. He’s struck out over a batter per inning and has really scaled back his walk rate with just a 6.7% BB%, which would be far and away a career-best. After not really using his changeup out of the bullpen, Detmers is back to using that as a platoon split neutralizer. The Royals are 26th in wRC+ against LHP this season with a .220/.299/.318 slash.
The hosts will counter with Seth Lugo, as he has a 1.15 ERA over his first five starts and 31.1 innings of work. His K% is up from recent seasons, but the sustainability of a .244 BABIP and an 82.8% LOB% are very fair to question. Lugo also hasn’t allowed a home run yet this season. His 3.96 xERA, 2.32 FIP, and 3.65 xFIP still suggest he will be very solid as the season plays out, but keeping up this pace is beyond unlikely.
Lugo is another example of a starter turned reliever turned starter, as he made a ton of relief appearances for the Mets from 2018-22 before the Padres turned him back into a rotation member in 2023. He’s been a very reliable starter since and he’s been very good the last two seasons for the Royals. That said, he did give up 27 HR in 145.1 innings of work last season, so the home run luck is something to follow closely.
The Angels check in 14th in wRC+ against RHP on the season, slashing .221/.328/.383. They’ve struck out over 26% of the time and have walked around 12% of the time, which are not ideal numbers against a guy in Lugo who usually displays good pitch efficiency and normally doesn’t issue a lot of free passes.
The Royals bullpen is in better shape than the Angels bullpen, as Kurt Suzuki just wanted to get some guys some work in yesterday’s lopsided loss and that led to a 36-pitch outing and an abject disaster for closer Jordan Romano.
Angels vs. Royals Prediction
My first inclination is to take the Under 8.5 in this game, but rain wiping out the two starters would be tough since long relievers would have to come in and those guys are often the worst arms on the staff. Despite what we’ve seen so far, the Royals have the more talented and deeper bullpen between the two teams, as their 5.89 ERA and 5.36 FIP don’t strike me as indicative of what they can accomplish.
With the two starters likely to cancel out to some degree, or maybe even get lifted thanks to a delay, I’ll trust the Royals bullpen.
Pick: Royals -120
