Written By: The Persian
On Tuesday night, the playoff-bound New York Yankees clash against the Kansas City Royals in the second of a three-game set inside famed Yankee Stadium from the Bronx, New York. They toss out the first pitch at 7:05 pm.
Bookmaker has installed the Yankees - 140 ML.
The Yankees are playoff-bound, and they know they will be measured by what they do or do not do in the postseason. New York has not won a World Series since 2009, and they know this season they have a shot to do it. However, they cannot rely on the longball, and they will need more from their starting rotation.
New York is a team that loves to hit home runs, and they will have to manufacture runs and learn to play a little small ball. The Yankees have hit a total of 213 home runs this season, and they are led by slugger Aaron Judge, who will win another AL MVP. He has put together a monster season, slugging a team-high 51 home runs while batting .321 on the season and driving in 125 runs.
He has had another historic season with the Yankees, who have a team average of .251. He has been the franchise's best player over the last five seasons. The Yankees will hand the ball over to Marcus Stroman, who sports a decent record of 10-7 and an ERA of 4.03 on the season. He has fanned 105 hitters in just over 140 innings of work.
The Royals have had a fun season and have given their fanbase something to smile about this season. They are a solid team that has a nice mix of young players mixed in with veterans as well. They are led on offense by veteran catcher Salvador Perez, who has cracked 25 home runs to go along with 95 runs batted in while batting .270 on the season.
They are a couple of games of the AL Wild Card pace.
Kansas City has hit 25 home runs as a team and has a batting average of .252 on the season. They have some confidence heading into this series, having won four straight heading into Monday's opener.
They will hand the ball over to veteran hurler Seth Lugo, who has a mark of 15-8 and is having the best season of his career. Lugo has been a pleasant surprise this season and has pitched well for the Royals, who have a team ERA of 3.87.
The Yankees are 2-3 in their last five games and 2-3 in their last five games against the number too. They are a solid 40-35 in their road games against the spread and the totals have gone over in two out of their last five games. The totals have also gone over in 40 out of their last 68 games at home.
The Royals are 4-1 in their last five games and 4-1 in their last five games against the spread. They are also 36-33 in their road games against the number. The totals have gone over in none of their last five games.
