The Kansas City Royals are coming off a 2-1 win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series over the Baltimore Orioles and they are now on the verge of collaring the franchise’s first pennant win since 1985. Will the Royals party like it’s 1985 later? Or will the Orioles hang tough and extend the series for at least one more game. Find out more about this matchup below. You can also take a look at our preview for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series here.
[sc:MLBArticles ]Baltimore Orioles vs. Kansas City Royals Betting Preview
Series Schedule & Results
Game 1 – Friday, October 10, Kansas City Royals 8 vs. Baltimore Orioles 6
Game 2 – Saturday, October 11, Kansas City Royals 6 vs. Baltimore Orioles 4
Game 3 – Sunday, October 14, Baltimore Orioles 1 vs. Kansas City Royals 2
Game 4 – Monday, October 15, Baltimore Orioles vs. Kansas City Royals – view all MLB lines
Game 5* – Wednesday, October 16, Baltimore Orioles vs. Kansas City Royals
Game 6*— Friday, October 17, Kansas City Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles
Game 7* — Saturday, October 18, Kansas City Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles
*If necessary
Betting on the Baltimore Orioles
[sc:MLB240banner ]Baltimore’s 96-win season is on the brink of going for naught as the Orioles’ backs are now against the wall, trailing Kansas City in the LCS, three games to none. Still, all hope is not lost for the O’s, who will be sending Miguel Gonzalez (10-9, 3.23 ERA) to the mound tonight. The Orioles are 5-1 in Gonzalez’s last six road starts.
Gonzalez will pitch for the first time in this postseason after a terrific performance last September. Gonzalez has a 3-2 record in five starts during that month with a season-best monthly ERA of 1.69. In his last start, Gonzalez pitched five scoreless innings in the Orioles’ 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on September 28.
Certainly, there’s pressure on Gonzalez’s shoulders and he will have to share it with the Orioles’ lineup that has seen its batting stats go down in this series from a spectacular showing in the division series against the Detroit Tigers, where they had a triple slash line of .263 AVG/.330 OBP/.424 SLG to go along with four homers. Conversely, the Orioles could only muster.239/.294/.312/ and a solitary home run through three games against Kansas City.
The Orioles’ offense could get a break tonight against Royals starter Jason Vargas. Nelson Cruz is a career .333 hitter against Vargas on 10-for-30 batting with eight RBIs and four home runs. Delmon Young, meanwhile, has a .389 batting average (7-for-18) against the lefty.
Betting on the Kansas City Royals
In Game 3, the Royals didn’t need to score loads of runs to beat Baltimore. Instead, they let Jeremy Guthrie and their army of excellent relievers do the heavy lifting to move Kansas City ever closer to winning the AL pennant. The Royals will go for the kill tonight as they give the ball to Jason Vargas (11-10, 3.71 ERA), who, like Gonzalez, hasn’t pitched for quite some time now.
Vargas did start in one game this postseason, though, picking up a no-decision in the Royals’ 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels in Game 1 of their ALDS matchup. He pitched six innings in that game, giving up two earned runs and striking out two. Dating back to his days as a Seattle Mariner, Vargas hasn’t allowed more than three runs in any of his last 10 starts opposite Baltimore. The total went under in all of those games.
Kansas City is a scrappy team that does all the little things that, when seen as a whole, largely explains how it got so deep in this postseason despite entering October as a wild card entry. Billy Butler and Mike Moustakas perfectly personified that assessment in Game 3 when the former hit a sac-fly to drive a go-ahead run in the sixth inning and when the latter recorded two amazing defensive plays. Another area where the Royals have been consistently awesome in this postseason is in their relief pitching.
The Royals’ bullpen has limited opponents down to just .175 batting average and has recorded a 1.59 ERA in the team’s last 16 games.
On offense, look for Jarrod Dyson and Salvador Perez to come up with something at the plate. Dyson is 5-for-6 (.833) against Gonzalez. Perez, on the other hand, is 4-for-9 (.444) with a home run.
The Royals are 3-0 in their last three home games.
Writer’s Prediction
Kansas City wins its first NL pennant since 1985 as they beat the O’s, 3-2. Create a betting account now, while odds are still available.
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