The two top American League Wild Card teams clash as the fifth-seeded Kansas City Royals face the fourth-seeded Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of their best-of-three series in the 2024 MLB playoffs on Tuesday.

Both teams feature MVP-level talent, with American League batting champion Bobby Witt leading the Royals and Gunnar Henderson enjoying a breakout season for the Orioles. 

On the mound, left-hander Cole Ragans will start for Kansas City, while right-hander Corbin Burnes takes the ball for Baltimore. 

Our Royals vs. Orioles predictions will show how closely matched these two teams are as we get ready for an exciting playoff series.

 

 

 

Royals vs. Orioles Predictions For AL Wild Card Game 1

This Game 1 matchup between the Royals and Orioles is an interesting one as we look to make our Royals vs. Orioles picks for who will come out on top.

Top-to-bottom, the Orioles have the more talented lineup with Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Anthony Santander, Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg filling out the top half of their lineup. 

Henderson is top five in AL MVP betting odds, following up his ROY season by hitting .281 with 118 runs, 37 homers, 92 RBI and 21 stolen bases.

Outfielder Anthony Santander also brings the thump, as he hit 44 home runs for Baltimore this season while driving in 102 RBI.

Both Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg were having Rookie of the Year type seasons with Cowser currently sitting at +180 to win the award.

Corbin Burnes takes the mound for the Orioles in Game 1. The pending free agent had a good season with Baltimore, going 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA while striking out 181 over 194.1 innings.

For the Royals, almost any other year we would see Bobby Witt winning the American League MVP. He is currently second in voting behind Aaron Judge who is going to lock down the award but Witt Jr. hit .332 with 125 runs, 32 home runs, 109 RBI and 31 stolen bases.

Behind Witt Jr. in the lineup we saw catcher/first baseman Salvador Perez finish with 27 home runs and 104 RBI. 

First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino hit .262 with 19 homers and 97 RBI but has missed the final month of the season due to injury. That said, Pasquantino may be returning for this Wild Card series as he is expected to test out his injured thumb in the batting cages.

On the mound we will see Cole Ragans pitch for the Royals. After a breakout last season which saw Ragans going 5-2 with a 2.64 ERA with 89 strikeouts over 71.2 in the second half of the season he proved that production to be no fluke as he established himself as one of the premier arms in baseball in 2024.

The Royals southpaw went 11-9 with a 3.14 ERA while striking out 223 over 186.1 innings. His 10.77 K/9 was the fourth best in baseball this season.

 

 

 

Baltimore Orioles: Can The Orioles Offense Get Going?

We’ve talked about how potent the Orioles offense was this season but over the last month of the season they did have their struggles, especially against left-handed pitching.

For the month of September Baltimore had just a .291 wOBA with a lowly .119 ISO and a 24.5% strikeout rate against southpaws.

Those are not the numbers you want to have going into a matchup against one of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball as Cole Ragans takes the mound for the Royals. 

Baltimore faced Ragans twice this season with polar opposite performances as they were held to one-hit over 6.1 innings in their first meeting but then hammered him for seven runs on nine hits over 1.2 innings in their second.

For our Royals vs. Orioles predictions today we have to determine which version of the Baltimore offense shows up today.

 

 

 

Kansas City Royals: Will Vinnie Pasquantino Play In Game 1?

Pasquantino may not be a household name, but he was having a breakout season for the Royals before the thumb injury that ended his regular season.

Pasquantino is an important bat in the middle of this Royals lineup because this Royals lineup is very top heavy with Bobby Witt and Salvador Perez being the only true constant threats with Pasquanitno is not available. 

Despite playing just 131 games Pasquantino had 19 homers and 97 RBI. He was on a full season pace to hit 25 home runs and finish with 120 RBI.

If Pasquantino is not able to return, this lineup becomes that much easier to pitch against and will make our Royals vs. Orioles prediction that much easier to make.

 

 

 

Royals vs. Orioles Odds, Spreads, Total & Betting Lines

Take a look at the current Royals vs. Orioles odds, spreads, totals and betting lines from DraftKings Sportsbook:

Run Line

  • Royals +1.5 (-175)
  • Orioles -1.5 (+145)

Moneyline

  • Royals: +136
  • Orioles: -162

Total

  • 7.0 (Over +102/Under -122)

 

 

 

Royals vs. Orioles Starting Pitcher & Lineup

Cole Ragans, Kansas City Royals

The Royals southpaw went 11-9 with a 3.14 ERA while striking out 223 over 186.1 innings. His 10.77 K/9 was the fourth best in baseball this season. 

He faced the Orioles twice this season, holding them to just one hit over 6.1 innings in their first meeting but they flipped the script in their second meeting as he lasted just 1.2 innings after allowing seven runs on nine hits.

Corbin Burnes, Baltimore Orioles

The pending free agent had a good season with Baltimore, going 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA while striking out 181 over 194.1 innings.

He faced the Royals twice this season, going 1-0 but wasn’t overly dominant, allowing five runs on 13 hits over 11.1 innings while striking out just seven.

 

 

 

Royals vs. Orioles Game Total: Under 7.0 (-122 on DraftKings)

We’ve talked extensively about how both teams are pitching their best starting pitcher here for Game 1 with the Royals sending Cole Ragans up against the Orioles Corbin Burnes.

Given the quality of starting pitching in Game 1, along with the fact that the Orioles offense has really slumped against left-handed pitching heading into the playoffs and the Royals lineup may be without one of their biggest run producers I’m just not sure we see too many runs in this game.

There is a very good chance that both of these starting pitchers shut down the opposing offenses and, especially in playoff baseball, we should see these starters pitch deeper into games than we would have usually seen during the regular season.

So, for our Royals vs. Orioles picks, we are rolling with the under on the total runs of 7.0 at DraftKings Sportsbook.

 

 

 

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