It's happening again for the A's, as their offense has once again gone on the blink, and losses are piling up. That's now setbacks in five straight for Oakland after getting swept four in Houston; worse yet, the A's didn't have a chance as they scored only a paltry four runs across the entirety of the series. Perfect opportunity, it would seem, for KC's Cole Ragans to get back on the beam after a difficult outing on Saturday at Anaheim, though remember he had allowed only four runs across 17 1/3 IP in his three previous starts. The Royals have been a bit sluggish themselves since the weekend, so 8.5 looks a rather high bar to clear. Play A's-Roya's "Under"

The little engine that could might be running out of steam and the A's are running low on starting pitching and the Royals seem to be catching them at just he right time here. They are 2-10 in their last 12 (since mauling Miami, 20-4) and 8 of those losses have come by 2+ runs. Cole Ragans has come back to earth in a big way, but the A's are a combined 0-17 vs him with 1 walk, so I'm going to lean into that here. The Royals have plenty of warts (need another bat and pen arm for sure) but beat up on lesser teams (19-8 vs sub .500 clubs) and 15-8 at home. A's stellar pen has seen a lot of use

Oakland was a nice story for a while but the lack of talent has caught up to the A's as they are free-falling. And played last night in Houston, while Kansas City was off. Royals ace Cole Ragans has had two really bad starts but otherwise been fairly Cy Young worthy. I would have been NBA-worthy back in the day other than being slow and the fact it's very true: White Men Can't Jump (other than maybe Rex Chapman, Brent Barry and Bobby Sura). This feels about 25 cents light in my opinion.