Posted at 12:30 PM EST. Odds subject to change.

Pinnacle -1½ +121  BET365 -1½ +115 Sportsinteraction -1½ +117 888Sport -1½ +115

Kansas City -1½ +121 over Chicago

2:10 PM EST. We understand that the Royals have a worse record than the White Sox but Kansas City has been swinging some pretty hot bats for well over a month while the South Side couldn’t hit a cow’s ass with a shovel. In its weekend series against the Red Sox, Kansas City went 1-2 but scored 21 times.

We also have to wonder about Chicago’s collective state of mind. Here’s a team that was just swept at home by Detroit while scoring four runs over the three games combined. The South Side are now 53-84 and the season can't end soon enough. They’ll travel to play an afternoon game in scorching hot weather in Kansas City and figure to show up in body only. Their spirit was broken weeks ago.

The White Sox signed Jesse Scholtens (RHP - CHW) to a minor league contract in December 2022 and brought him to the majors for the first time in his career back in April. Dude is a 29-year-old rookie that is really just a body to fill in until the season ends. Scholtens was a 9th round draft pick of the Padres in 2016 and has spent most of the last three seasons in Triple-A. His ERA is a very respectable 3.97 but his xERA is 5.47. He also has just 47 K’s in 70 innings with a weak swing and miss rate of 6.5%.

Cole Ragans (LHP - KC) has come out of nowhere to be fantastic. Three of his last five starts have resulted in pure domination. He has allowed a combined four earned runs in four home starts since joining the Royals. In his seven starts since being traded, he is 3-1 with a 1.73 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 2.78 xERA, 12.1 K’s/9 with a supported and outstanding swing and miss rate of 15% to go along with an elite 50% groundball rate. Ragans was the game's most skilled starting pitcher in August. His premium strikeout rate had the support of the highest swinging strike rate among AL starters that month (15.2%). The opposing White Sox have just a .685 OPS in the second half of the season and most of that came when they cared. They no longer do. Ragans is +125 to record the win in pitcher player props, which might be an even better wager than spotting 1½-runs with the host. Your choice.

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