Orioles Favored to Sweep Royals in Wild Card Series

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00:00The O is a pretty hefty favorite to win this wildcard set.

00:06A best of three series that begins today in the Charm City.

00:10Do you think it's more competitive than that minus 172 series outright price would say

00:15in favor of Baltimore?

00:17No, I don't.

00:19I think this is an easy sweep for Baltimore here, mostly because Baltimore is not the

00:25Chicago White Sox.

00:27Had they been the Chicago White Sox, I would definitely be on the Royals since the Royals

00:32were just about 500 against everybody else they played this year.

00:37Only they went 12 and 1 against the White Sox.

00:39In fact, the White Sox, the argument can be made, is really the only reason why we're

00:43seeing Detroit and Kansas City in the playoffs right now this year.

00:49And that's a fair argument to make.

00:50So I just don't think the Royals have been limping in over the last month here, Ben,

00:56into the season.

00:57I love Bobby Witt Jr.

00:59I think the kid is an absolute superstar here.

01:03But I don't trust any other part of this Royals team, nor do I trust the bullpen.

01:09I think Corbin Burns goes out there in game one, gets it done for him.

01:14I think this is an easy two-nothing sweep here, unfortunately, for the Royals.

01:19They played their best baseball too soon in the season, and this has just been a struggle

01:24down the stretch.

01:25So I do think the Orioles get it done two-nothing here.

01:30And this is the promise for Baltimore, right?

01:33You take your postseason lumps as a young club.

01:36How do you learn from it?

01:37How do you gain that experience?

01:38And then how do you get better year over year?

01:41The O's were the number one seed in the American League postseason a year ago.

01:45They won more than 100 games, and they were bounced in a sweep in the division series

01:51by the Texas Rangers.

01:52Texas ended up winning a World Series, so there is comfort in that for the O's.

01:57But this is the time to take what you learned a year ago and put it into practice and make

02:02it a playoff success story.

02:04Baltimore is the hefty favorite.

02:06Corbin Burns gets the start today.

02:08For most of the year, Burns was an A.L.

02:10Cy Young consideration.

02:12Struggle a little bit down the stretch.

02:14He'll go up against Cole Reagans, who has also been very good this year for KC.

02:19Six and a half the total for both of our opening games in the wildcard rounds in the

02:25American League.

02:26Joe, when you look at the Royals, this is their first playoff berth since their World

02:30Series championship in 2015.

02:34Not a very different team than this one, but Salvador Perez does remain.

02:39They have the hits leader in MLB this year in Bobby Witt.

02:42Seth Lugo was great to start the year, more than likely going to be pitching in this series

02:46at some point.

02:48You can see what the odds say and hear in the tail of the tape.

02:52The Orioles are plus 190 to win this series in two games.

02:57The Astros plus 195 to win in two.

03:01The Brewers plus 250, the series odds from a correct score component, not out for the

03:06Braves and the Padres because of the uncertainty around Chris Sale's status.

03:10All to say that plus 190 price for a Baltimore sweep over KC is the shortest number for a

03:17sweep in the correct score market throughout any of these four wildcard series.

03:22Yeah, and the problem that I have with Kansas City is I do think Kansas City on some level,

03:27Ben, is much better suited for 162-game season than they are for a three-game set.

03:35I love WACA.

03:36I love Lugo.

03:37I love Reagans.

03:38Very good.

03:39But we also watch them barely hit 200 down the stretch as a team.

03:44And the other problem that you need in short series is you need the ability and the threat

03:50of the long ball.

03:51Nobody has that threat better than Baltimore outside of the Yankees, who had 235 home runs

03:56this year.

03:57That is not what the Royals do.

03:59If they don't manufacture runs, they don't score.

04:02That's a problem in a short series in the playoffs.

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