21st Oct - Royals vs Blue Jays

There’s been a lot of surprise and a lot of exclamation over the Kansas City Royals high run scoring performances against the Toronto Blue Jays. ESPN described the Royals as beating the Blue Jays at “their own game”, after Tuesday night’s 14-2 thrashing, which gives Kansas City a commanding 3-1 lead in the series and puts them on the brink of reaching a second consecutive World Series.

However, those surprised must be pretty forgetful. The Royals did exactly the same thing last season, blasting their way through the postseason and all the way to the World Series. They’ve also been a pretty formidable offense all season long, perhaps not quite as eye-catching as Toronto, but very effective and built for the postseason, where the deeper the batting lineup, the better.

On the mound tonight, Edinson Volquez will look for his second win of the series. Volquez pitched six scoreless innings in Game 1 of the series, a 5-0 win for Kansas City.

Marco Estrada is on the mound for a Toronto, who have their backs against the wall. He faced elimination last time he pitched, when he put together a strong outing against the Texas Rangers in Game 3 of their first round playoff series.

Three Reasons for Betting Tips

1. Blue Jays offense finds a way

We felt the same way when they had their backs against the wall against the Rangers, an offense this deep and this powerful with a middle order featuring Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, Don’t expect Toronto to give in without some sort of fight.

2. Backing Estrada to pitch well

He put together a good outing with the pressure on in Arlington in Game 3 against Texas, he’s enjoyed a pretty solid season all year long and we think he’ll give this offense a chance to win Game 4 tonight.

3. One more win at Rogers Centre

We don’t see Toronto surviving beyond Games 5 and 6 in Kansas City, but a fan base, that had been deprived postseason baseball since 1993, will surely will this franchise to one more postseason win.