The New York Yankees are coming off a three-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, and they’ll be looking for their seventh win in a row when they take on the Kansas City Royals on Friday.
Will New York stay hot with a win over Kansas City? Continue reading our Yankees vs. Royals MLB picks and predictions for Friday, April 29 to find out.
Yankees vs Royals odds
This odds widget represents the best odds available for each betting market from regulated sportsbooks.
The Yankees were only -160 favorites at the open of this one, but that number is up as high as -200 now. That makes New York a tough play on the moneyline, but you can find the team at -115 to cover the 1.5-run spread.
The total in this game is on the rise, as it opened at 8 and is up to 8.5 in some places. There are even some books making you pay juice to take the Over on 8.5.
Use the live odds widget above to track any future line movements right up until first pitch and be sure to check out the full MLB odds before placing your bets.
Yankees vs Royals predictions
- Prediction: Yankees -1.5 (-115)
- Prediction: Under 8.5 (+100)
- Best bet: Cortes Over 5.5 strikeouts (+120)
Picks made on 4/29/2022 at 11:10 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Yankees vs Royals game info
• Location: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
• Date: Friday, April 29, 2022
• First pitch: 8:10 p.m. ET
• TV: YES, Bally Sports
Yankees vs Royals betting preview
Starting pitchers
Nestor Cortes Jr. (0-0, 1.15 ERA): Cortes is coming off his longest outing of the season thus far, as he pitched 6 1-3 innings and gave up just two earned runs in a win over the Cleveland Guardians. The lefty struck out eight batters in that game, which gives him 25 in just 15 2-3 innings this year. Cortes is clearly the second-best pitcher in this rotation right now, and he’ll look to keep New York rolling here.
Kris Bubic (0-1, 14.14 ERA): This has been a rough season for Bubic thus far, as he has allowed 11 runs in only seven innings. The lefty didn’t make it out of the first inning in his first start of the season, as he gave up five earned against the Guardians in the opening frame. Bubic is also coming off a start in which he gave up five in two innings against the Seattle Mariners. For what it’s worth, Bubic was 6-7 with a 4.43 ERA last season.
Weather
Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.
Key injuries
Yankees: Domingo German P (Out).
Royals: Adalberto Mondesi SS (Out).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.
Betting trend to know
The Under is 7-1-1 in the Yankees’ last nine road games against left-handed starters. Find more MLB betting trends for Yankees vs. Royals
Yankees vs Royals picks and predictions
Our side and total predictions are based upon our analysis of the line and total in this game. Our best bet is our favorite pick across all markets.
Run line analysis
There are going to be a lot of games this year in which it’ll be tough to suggest backing the Yankees on the moneyline, as they’re just massive favorites quite often. With that said, the run line is always an option, and New York has covered the 1.5-run spread in each of its last four games. Considering the Yankees have a huge edge on the hill in this game, it wouldn’t be surprising if they did it again.
Cortes has been nearly unhittable this season, as he’s allowed only two earned runs over three starts. Now, the lefty faces a Royals team that has the fourth-worst batting average in the league against left-handed pitching. Kansas City has also scored only 57 runs on the season — the worst mark in all of baseball. To add insult to injury, the team also lost Adalberto Mondesi to a torn ACL this week. He was struggling to get it going at the plate this year, but he is a dynamic young player on a team that doesn’t have many of those.
Kansas City will also have to really worry about Bubic in this matchup. The Yankees have the third-highest slugging percentage in the league against lefties this season, and they’re also up in the Top 10 in total runs scored after a really slow start to the year. This New York team has scored 42 runs over the last five games, and it’s just hard to see the Yankees slowing down in a golden matchup like this one.
Prediction: Yankees -1.5 (-115 at Caesars)
Over/Under analysis
The Yankees are a threat to put up a lot of runs on most nights, and tonight’s game is no exception. New York is going to love its matchup with Bubic, especially with how dangerous guys like Aaron Judge, DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton are against lefties — and even Josh Donaldson has homered twice off of Bubic in his career. However, the Yankees are sending Cortes to the mound against a struggling Royals offense, so the Under can still hit even if New York scores five or six runs in this game.
The Under is actually now 11-6 in Kansas City’s 17 games this season, and a lot of that has to do with this team’s inability to score. The Under is also 8-3 in the Yankees’ last 11 games against teams with losing records, and 21-8-2 in their last 31 games against left-handed starters. To add to that latter trend, the Under is also 7-1-1 in New York’s last nine road games against lefties.
Prediction: Under 8.5 (+100 at WynnBet)
Best bet
Cortes has recorded a total of 20 strikeouts over his last two outings, and he even had five in his first start of the year — despite only throwing 72 pitches in that short performance against the Toronto Blue Jays. Now, the lefty will look to dominate a Royals lineup that has been one of the worst in baseball to start the year, and it’s just hard to see him not striking out at least six batters in this game.
On the season, the Royals have the third-lowest BABIP in the entire league against lefties, and they also have the fourth-worst batting average. Overall, the Royals don’t strike out as much as you’d think for a bad offense, but that could change against a pitcher like Cortes. The lefty doesn’t have the craziest stuff in the world, but he uses a lot of different arm angles to throw batters off. Between that and an improved cutter, he should be able to rack up strikeouts tonight.
Pick: Cortes Over 5.5 strikeouts (+120 at FanDuel)
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