Royals at Rays Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends and stats for May 1

Its Thursday, May 1 and the Royals (16-15) are in Tampa to take on the Rays (14-16) in the finale of their three-game series.

Seth Lugo is slated to take the mound for Kansas City against Shane Baz for Tampa Bay.

The Royals have taken the first two games of this series, outscoring the Rays 6-1 in those games.

Noah Cameron carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning for the Royals last night eventually allowing one hit in 6.1 innings to earn his first career win as KC shutout Tampa 3-0.

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 the how to catch tipoff, 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 Royals at Rays

• Date: Thursday, May 1, 2025
• Time: 1:10PM EST
• Site: George M. Steinbrenner Field
• City: Tampa, FL
• Network/Streaming: FDSNKC, FDSNSUN

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 Royals at the Rays

The latest odds as of Thursday:

• Moneyline: Royals (+127), Rays (-151)
• Spread: Rays -1.5
• Total: 8.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Royals at Rays

• Pitching matchup for May 1, 2025: Seth Lugo vs. Shane Baz
  • Royals: Seth Lugo (2-3, 3.08 ERA)
    Last outing: 4/25 vs. Houston – 8IP, 0ER, 3H, 1BB, 8Ks
  • Rays: Shane Baz (3-0, 2.46 ERA)
    Last outing: 4/25 at San Diego – 7IP, 0ER, 4H, 1BB, 6Ks

Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!

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

• The Royals have won their last 3 on the road after starting the season 2-10 away from home
• This season Rays pitcher Shane Baz has an ERA of 2.47 and a WHIP of 1.03
• The Rays have covered the Run Line in 3 straight Shane Baz starts
• Bobby Witt Jr. has hit safely in 21 straight games (23-77)
• Bobby Witt Jr. hit safely in all but 2 games in April hitting .330 for the month

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!

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

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 Royals and the Rays:

• Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is staying away from a play 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 recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.

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

Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:

• Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
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• Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
• Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)