The parallels between the 2014 Kansas City Royals and 2015 Houston Astros are obvious to draw. Teams that had endured a long period of consecutive losing seasons, a Wildcard game against the New York Yankees and the same scenes of jubilation on the field as a team returned to the postseason.

The Royals will know how dangerous a team like that can be. In 2014, they used a Wildcard game win to spark a long postseason run all the way to the World Series, where they came close, but ultimately fell to the San Francisco Giants.

Kansas City are the established team in this match-up after enjoying a season long dominance of the AL Central and finishing with the league’s best record. The Astros looked destined to win the AL West division, but they almost fell out of the playoff picture altogether due to a late season slump.

It’s an intriguing pitching match-up with Yordano Ventura going up against Collin McHugh. Ventura throws the ball hard and he finished the season strong going 8-1 since August 1. He’s become the closest thing to the go-to man on a pretty balanced rotation.

McHugh missed out on a 20-win season, but he’ll only be thinking about pitching a good postseason game. The 28-year old was pretty consistent all season long providing a steadying presence at a time when other Astros pitchers stumbled. Dallas Keuchel proved to be a terrific choice for the Wildcard game, but McHugh may have been a close second place in that competition.

Three Reasons for Betting Tips

1. Experience deficit

Experience doesn’t always count for everything as the Royals themselves proved last season, but we think it’ll count for Kansas City here. There’s a feeling that the Astros are just a little reliant on the long ball and that won’t be easy against Ventura.

2. Astros road form

The other element to the game one match-up is Houston’s road form, which wasn’t a factor against the Yankees of course, but might be more problematic here. Houston’s road form against postseason teams is even worse than its overall record and it could cost them in a best of five series.

3. Deep hitting order

McHugh is an elite pitcher but going deep against this order isn’t easy. They have tough outs almost all the way down to their last man and it’ll likely put pressure on Houston’s bullpen.