Kansas City Royals vs. New York Yankees MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 6/23/2021

The Kansas City Royals and the New York Yankees meet in MLB action from Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.

The Kansas City Royals will look to build on a 6-5 win over the Yankees on Tuesday. Ryan O’Hearn led the charge, going 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs while Michael A. Taylor, Hunter Dozier, Jarrod Dyson and Whit Merrifield all had RBIs as well to cap off Kansas City’s scoring in the victory. Carlos Santana added a double while Nicky Lopez added a base hit as well to cap off the offense for the Royals. Brady Singer gave up two earned runs on five hits with five K’s over 3.2 innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Jake Brentz got the win in relief to improve to 2-0 on the year while Greg Holland closed the door for his 5^th save of the season. Danny Duffy will start here and is 4-3 with a 1.94 ERA and 48 strikeouts this season. in his career, Duffy is 3-3 with a 5.00 ERA and 43 strikeouts against the Yankees.

The New York Yankees will look to rebound after their loss to the Royals on Tuesday. DJ LeMahieu had a two-run home run while Kyle Higashioka and Luke voit each had a solo home run with Voit going 2 for 3 with a triple as well. Aaron Judge went 2 for 4 with a double while Gio Urshela added a 2 for 4 day as well to finish off the offense for New York in the victory. Gerrit Cole allowed two runs on three hits while striking out six over seven innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Jonathan Loaisiga took the loss, falling to 7-3 on the year as a result. Michael King will start here and is 0-3 with a 4.08 ERA and 29 strikeouts this season. This will be King’s first start against Kansas City.

Kansas City is 26-54 in their last 80 games against the AL East and 72-157 in their last 229 games against a team with a winning record while the under is 3-1-1 in their last 5 games overall. New York is 5-1 in their last 6 games overall and 20-7 in their last 27 games against the AL Central while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games against a team with a losing record. The over is 4-0-1 in the last 5 meetings between these two teams.

Danny Duffy was my early pick for the Cy Young, but he’s coming off of the IL for this start and who knows if he’ll be rusty or on a pitch count. On the other hand, Michael King hasn’t even been great in a relief role for the Yankees. Instead, I’m going to side with the over here as I could see both sides doing some damage once again, giving us the over rather easily.