The Kansas City Royals will play the New York Yankees in Game 1 of their series on Friday night at Yankee Stadium in New York. Kansas City has really struggled this season and they have lost 11 of their last 14 games, while the Yankees have not done much better over the last two weeks.
Royals Preview
The Kansas City Royals are 28-70 this season and they have lost five of their last seven games. Kansas City is coming off of a series loss to the Tigers, where they lost three out of four games. The Kansas City pitching staff has a 5.22 ERA, a 1.43 WHIP, and a .263 opponent batting average this season. The Royals offense has scored 363 runs with a .232 batting average and a .293 on base percentage. Bobby Witt is batting .251 with 16 home runs and 51 RBI’s for the Royals. The projected starting pitcher for Kansas City is Alec Marsh, who is 0-3 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP over 15.0 innings pitched this year.
Yankees Preview
The New York Yankees are 50-47 this season and they have lost four games in a row and nine of their last eleven. New York is coming off of a series loss to the Angels, where they lost all three games and were out scored by a total of 16-7. The New York pitching staff has a 3.89 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, and a .232 opponent batting average. The Yankees offense has scored 422 runs with a .230 batting average and a .301 on base percentage this year. Gleyber Torres is batting .263 with 14 home runs and 39 RBI’s for the Yankees. The projected starting pitcher for New York is Clarke Schmidt, who is 5-6 with a 4.31 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP over 94.0 innings pitched this season.
Trends
Kansas City is 3-23 in their last 26 Friday games. New York is 0-4 in their last 4 games on grass and 1-7 in their last 8 games against a right handed starting pitcher. The over is 5-1-2 in New York’s last 8 home games and the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games against the AL Central.
Pick
The Royals are one of the worst teams in the MLB and they are coming off of a series loss to the Tigers, while the Yankees have played very poorly recently and were just swept by the Angels. New York is starting Clarke Schmidt, who has allowed three earned runs or fewer in four straight starts. Kansas City is starting Alec Marsh, who has allowed nine earned runs in his three starts this season (15 IP). I can’t trust either of these two teams right now, but I am going to side with the Yankees at home here. New York has played well at home this season, while the Royals are 13-34 on the road. Take the Yankees -1.5 here.
AUTHOR: David Racey
