Bet On The Total In Game 4 Of Yankees Vs Royals

Yankees vs. Royals, 8:08 ET
 

Today is a pretty special day for many of us out there. Today, Backyard Baseball is back and launched on the Steam Platform. It doesn't return in a new form, they updated the 1997 version of the game and it is available for people to download and play. I don't know much about gaming and stuff, but I did love having Pablo Sanchez mash the ball when I was a kid. It also is my late grandmother's birthday, and my daughter's best friend, Cami's birthday. A lot going on. However, that doesn't take away from that fact that there is work to do! We need to get some of the money back that I lost us yesterday on these MLB playoffs. Things had been going rather well for weeks until yesterday's stinker. I'm getting a piece of it back here as the Yankees look to close out the series against the Royals. 

It would be a bit of a disaster if the Yankees lost this series. This team isn't built to just win a couple of playoff games. They were put together to win a World Series title. With names like Gerrit Cole, Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto on your roster, missing the playoffs is a disaster, losing in the divisional round is a failure, and getting to the American League Championship isn't enough. There is a lot of pressure on the team, but no more than any other past New York club. They've seen their city counterpart, the Mets, already advance and their roster isn't nearly loaded with as much talent. The Yankees have not had a very convincing victory in the series, but they are up 2-1 and can end it with another win. In the first game, they had a nice lead, but the Royals kept chipping away, the Yankees survived. In Game 2, they were down for most of the game, and put together very little offense. Yesterday was a show from Giancarlo Stanton, going 3-for-5 and hitting the go-ahead homer in the 8th. Aaron Judge continues to struggle, but if the Yankees can win with him playing poorly, that should make other teams fearful about when he does turn it on. Cole takes the mound today and looks to be the Ace he is paid to be. He was injured for a lot of the season, but still ended strong, including a September where he threw 32 innings and allowed nine earned runs. Seven of those came in one game. So outside of that one poor start, he allowed two runs over 27.2 innings. In the playoff opener, he was able to go five innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on seven hits while striking out four Royals. 

Kansas City won't feel like this season was a success if they lose this game - or at least they won't say it. But in reality, this was a successful season already. Thats the thing about expectations and teams. A smaller market like the Royals have provides lower expectations. A bigger market team like the Yankees is expected to win at every turn. Kansas City also had a disaster of a season last year and turned it around to win a playoff series already. They aren't dead yet and I'm sure no one in their clubhouse has stopped believing. These wins for the Yankees haven't been lopsided. The Royals continue to fight, but the Yankees have just enough to give them a win. Their decision to keep their season alive is to put Michael Wacha on the mound. I'm not overly confident that this is a great strategy, but the Royals offense has been clicking enough that it might be okay. Wacha started the series opener as well, going four innings and allowing three earned runs while walking three and striking out three. Not a disaster. He was about a full earned run better at home than he was on the road this season, so there is some promise there as well. 

I think this one will be a bit tighter of a contest and I like the under in the game. I do think the Yankees ultimately come out on top, but I think we see closer to five runs in this game than we see eight runs. It is certainly possible that both offenses roll and there is short work from both pitchers, but I think that has a lot less of a likelihood than a pitching duel. I'll take the under in this one. 

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