Royals vs. Yankees Game 1 prediction: Odds, expert picks, player news, playoff history, trends, and stats

It’s a matchup featuring one team that lost 106 games last season and another team that quietly won more than any other team in the American League in 2024.

The Kansas City Royals upset the Baltimore Orioles in the Wild Card round and are in the Bronx to take on the top seed in the American League, the New York Yankees. Game 1 is Saturday night.

This game features a handful of stars. The Royals are led by their 24-year-old phenom at shortstop, Bobby Witt Jr., and their 13-year veteran catcher, Salvador Perez. Witt went 3-9 (.333) in the Wild Card round and drove in 2 of the 3 runs the Royals scored in the 2-game sweep of Baltimore. Perez went 2-8 (.250) and KC needs his bat, but his true value lies in his handling of the pitching staff.

The Yankees are led of course by Aaron Judge. The best player in the American League (at least), Judge put up monster numbers again this season. He smashed 58 home runs and drove in 144 runs. Juan Soto is not to be ignored. The right fielder in his walk year batted .288 with 41 HRs and 109 RBIs. Most of the season Judge and Soto yearned for lineup support and they finally got it from Gleyber Torres who hit .333 in September. Amazing how the emergence of Torres helped balance that lineup.

2023 Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole gets the start in Game 1 for the Yankees. Veteran Michael Wacha gets the nod for Kansas City.

Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two for Game 1.

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 first-pitch, projected pitching matchup, 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 Royals vs. Yankees – Game 1

● Date: Saturday, October 5, 2024
● Time: 6:38 PM ET
● Site: Yankee Stadium
● City: New York, NY
● TV/Streaming: TBS

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Game odds for Royals vs. Yankees

The latest odds as of Friday afternoon:

● Moneyline: Kansas City Royals (+165), New York Yankees (-200)
● Spread: Royals +1.5 (-130), Yankees -1.5 (+110)
● Total: 7.5

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Probable starting pitchers for Kansas City vs. New York

● Saturday’s pitching matchup (October 5): Michael Wacha vs. Gerrit Cole

○ Royals: Wacha (13-8, 3.35 ERA) has allowed 62 earned runs and 154 hits while striking out 145 over 166.2 innings.

○ Yankees: Cole (8-5, 3.41 ERA) has allowed 36 earned runs and 78 hits while striking out 99 over 95 innings.

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Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Royals @ Yankees

• These teams last met in the playoffs in the late 1970s. They played 4 times from 1976-1980 with the Yankees winning three of the four series.
• Aaron Judge is looking to rebound from a rough 2022 postseason in which he batted a less than robust .139 (5-36) with 2 HRs while striking out 15 times.
• In 6 trips to the postseason in his career, Judge is hitting .211 with 13 HRs.
• Michael Wacha last appeared in the playoffs in 2021. For his career, Wacha is 4-3 with a 5.21 ERA in his postseason career.
• Gerrit Cole last appeared in the postseason in 2022 going 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA in 3 starts. He is 10-6 in 17 lifetime playoff starts.

Playoff History for Kansas City vs. New York

• Royals: KC has won World Series titles in 1985 and 2015. They won the American League pennant in1980, 1985, 2014, and 2015. They have won the AL Central once (2015) and the AL West 7 times (1976-81, 1984, and 1985).
• Yankees: New York has won 27 World Championships. Their last World Series victory was in 2009. They have been to the playoffs 57 times and won 40 AL pennants
• As mentioned previously, these teams have not met in the playoffs in 44 years.

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 Saturday’s Royals vs. Yankees game

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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 Saturday’s Kansas City vs. New York game:

· Moneyline: NBC Sports is staying away from a play on the Moneyline
· Spread: NBC Sports is leaning towards a play on the Yankees on the Run Line
· Total Runs: NBC Sports is leaning towards a play on the OVER of 7.5 Total Runs

Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC Sports for money line, spread and total picks for each of the games on today’s calendar!

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