Free Pick | MLB | Thursday | April 16

Nelly’s is 4-2 in AL picks so far this season!

We started last season on a 20-7 run the first five weeks.

#955/956 UNDER 8.5 Kansas City Royals (Bubic) at Detroit Tigers (Montero) 12:10 PM CT

Kris Bubic has been superb for the Royals three starts into his 2026 season with a 2.50 ERA and an 11.5 K/9. The Royals are a disappointing 7-11 so far this season however including losing the first two games of this series in matching 2-1 results. The Tigers are undefeated vs. left-handed starters this season after going 26-17 vs. left-handers last season but Detroit is batting .194 with 2.1 runs per nine vs. southpaws this season. The recent splits are even worse with Detroit scoreless with a .080 team average in the past five games vs. lefties. In that span Kansas City is batting .173 with 1.7 runs per nine vs. right-handers as both offenses are struggling. Keider Montero has a 1.74 ERA in two starts for the Tgiers this season with some momentum in his third MLB season following his contributions to the WBC championship for Venezuela. Montero has 10 strikeouts and only two walks allowed this season and he had a scoreless outing vs. the Royals last season. The Royals had a tough start to the season from its bullpen but the recent splits have been excellent with a 3.60 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP in the past 10 games. Detroit has some of the best relief pitching results in MLB so far this season. There have only been six runs and 21 combined hits the past two days in this series and there is no reason to expect a major change of course in Thursday’s game with some rain possibly delaying the final game of this series in cool early season conditions.