MLB Lines: “This is the Year” is the annual slogan and hope for the Kansas City Royals and after their red hot finish in the second half of last season it was expected to carry over for 2014 as the Royals were a hot pick to make the playoffs. Instead KC is again bottom feeding in the American League Central as one of the worst values on the MLB betting board. The Kansas City Royals will host the New York Yankees on Saturday night at Kauffman Stadium with coverage on FOX starting at 7:15 PM ET. The probable starting pitchers are right hander David Phelps for the Yankees and left hander Danny Duffy for Kansas City.
Yankees Up and Down
The New York Yankees were above water on the road with a mark of 17-13 but struggled on the run line with a mark of 27-30. The Yankees had the metrics of team that would struggle for consistency as they ranked 16th for run production. 18th for home runs, 20th for earned run average and 21st for quality starts.
Royals Feel Blue
Kansas City ranked near the bottom of the profitability charts with the MLB lines and was just 13-14 at home. The Royals were a surprising 31-27 with the run line however as they were battling to stay out of the AL Central basement. The Royals ranked 20th for run production, 30th for home runs, and 28th for OPS. Their highly touted pitching staff ranked only 16th for earned run average although 9th for quality starts.
The Pick
The Yankees have won 7 out of their last 9 games with the Royals including their last 3 games at Kansas City with 12 out of the last 20 in this series going under the total. Yankees and under!