Astros at Royals prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends, and stats for April 25

It's Friday, April 25, and the Astros (13-11) are in Kansas City to take on the Royals (12-14). Hayden Wesneski is slated to take the mound for Houston against Seth Lugo for Kansas City.

The Houston Astros are coming off a three-game sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays. They last played on Wednesday. They won 3-1. Ryan Gusto picked up the win. He pitched 5.2 innings, gave up three hits, and just one earned run.

The Royals have won four straight and are coming off a sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

Michael Lorenzen was fantastic on the mound. He picked up the win and struck out seven batters.

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 Astros at Royals

• Date: Friday, April 25, 2025
• Time: 7:40PM EST
• Site: Kauffman Stadium
• City: Kansas City, MO

• Network/Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network Kansas City, Space City Home Network

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 Astros at the Royals

The latest odds as of Friday:

• Moneyline: Astros (-123), Royals (+104)
• Spread:  Astros -1.5
• Total: 8.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Astros at Royals

• Pitching matchup for April 25, 2025: Hayden Wesneski vs. Seth Lugo
  
  • Astros: Hayden Wesneski, (1-1, 3.91 ERA)
    Last outing (San Diego Padres, 4/19): 5.0 Innings Pitched, 2 Earned Runs Allowed, 6 Hits Allowed, 1 Walks, and 4 Strikeouts
  • Royals: Seth Lugo, (1-3, 3.90 ERA)
    Last outing (Detroit Tigers, 4/19): 6.2 Innings Pitched, 3 Earned Runs Allowed, 5 Hits Allowed, 2 Walks, and 5 Strikeouts

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

• The Astros have won 4 of their last 5 at AL Central teams
• 4 of the Astros' last 5 matchups against American League teams have gone under the Total
• The Astros are 7-3 against the Run Line in their last 10 games with a rest advantage

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 tonight’s game between the Astros and the Royals

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 Friday's game between the Astros and the Royals:

• Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Houston Astros 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

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