Best YRFI Bets Today: Fade a Pair of Former Cy Young Contenders

With the calendar flipping to October, playoff baseball has officially begun with 12 teams battling it out in a race to the World Series. Kicking things off in the AL, the Kansas City Royals face off against the Baltimore Orioles with a pair of former Cy Young contenders set to take the mound. While that normally results in a low scoring affair, both lineups excel at making contact and are in a position to open up the scoring early in game one of their series.

For more information about the YRFI market and what factors make them worth a wager, take a look at our breakdown of what are YRFI bets.

As for where to wager on YRFIs, FanDuel Sportsbook has been the top choice for the market as they routinely put out lines before everyone else and at very favorable odds when compared to the rest of the mobile apps. If you have not signed up yet with FanDuel sportsbook and are looking to wager on Tuesday’s slate of YRFIs, you can claim $200 in bonus bets by creating an account and making an initial wager of at least $5.

Kansas City Royals vs. Baltimore Orioles - Cole Ragans vs. Corbin Burnes (4:08 PM, EST)

Over 0.5 Run (+120) at FanDuel

Even with one of the better records in the AL, the Baltimore Orioles are forced to start their run in the playoffs with a best of three series against the Kansas City Royals in the wildcard round. This is due to having to play in a division that features the New York Yankees, finishing second in the AL East division standings while the Bronx Bombers paced the entire AL for the first overall seed in the playoffs.

With a best of three series bringing an uptick in variance, the Orioles are set to roll out Corbin Burnes in an attempt to neutralize the Royals offense. Normally a pitcher to avoid for a YRFI this season, it’s worth noting Burnes limped to the finish line as he finished the last ten games of his 2024 campaign conceding 54 Hits Against and 25 Earned Runs Allowed. A major reason why he stumbled down the AL Cy Young oddsboard after rivaling Tarik Skubal for a majority of the year

Against the Kansas City Royals, Burnes is prone to falling back into a slump as he faces off against a unit who excels at making contact and bringing home their runners on base as the Royals rank well above league average in Team Total Hits, RBIs, and Total Runs Scored. Especially with the 2024 Total Hits leader Bobby Witt Jr looming large in the top of their order, possessing an elite contact ability to help put a runner in scoring position early on in the contest.

On the other side of the field, the Orioles offense draws a more favorable matchup as they are set to face off against the Royals Cole Ragans. While Ragans has excelled at avoiding contact by averaging less than one Hit Against per Inning Pitched, he has struggled to keep opposing runners off the bases due to his sporadic command as his 3.32 BB9 and WHIP of 1.143 indicates. His back end also fails to give him league average production on defense, entering the contest ranked 17th overall in Defensive Efficiency.

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