First Five Look for Twins vs. Royals on Opening Day

Twins vs. Royals, 4:10 ET

Baseball is back my friends! There isn't much better than Opening Day for Major League Baseball. I'm hyped up this year for many reasons - one the World Baseball Classic was awesome this year and that helped with my interest to start the season, and two, I crushed baseball last season. That doesn't mean that I'll do it this year, but it certainly is driving me here. I was 70 games over .500, all documented on Outkick. Let's get to it.

The Twins are not a team that I believe in whatsoever. Minnesota was expected to win the division last season and they ended up in third. Their offseason was a bit confusing. They didn't really make any big splash aside from resigning Carlos Correa and that was in jeopardy twice as he was rumored to sign with the Giants and the Mets before both deals fell through. Today, we get Pablo Lopez pitching for the Twins. Lopez has only faced two Royals hitters in his career and they are just 1-for-5, so he might be okay for the first time through the order. Last season, with Miami, he was decent enough, but being on the Marlins he didn't have much of a chance to win games. If he can replicate his performance it should elevate the Twins pitching staff. But, last year was also his heaviest workload and that can affect pitchers at times. I don't really care for the Twins bullpen either, and don't expect Lopez to go more than five innings.

A lot of what we have to go on for the start of the year is what happened last year. Now, last year's results don't mean that this year will be the same. There will be a lot of change, but there are certain things that you can focus on and use for inspiration on what to bet in this season. Zack Greinke is taking the hill for the Royals today against the Twins. Greinke excelled in one spot last year specifically - it was as a home starter. Over 12 starts, Greinke allowed just 14 earned runs and one home run. He did allow 67 hits and 10 walks in just 66 innings, so there may have been some luck ion avoiding big innings. The Twins did hit him pretty well in the games they played against him. However, most of their success came at home rather than on the road against Greinke. In his two home starts against them he allowed just two earned runs over 10.1 innings.

This isn't a game that I think the Royals will coast to, but I think they have a legitimate chance to win the game. My initial lean on this game was to take the Royals to win the game (I shared this on Geoff Clark's podcast). My official bet in this one will be under 4.5 runs through the first five innings. I think both pitchers will be able to limit the damage the first couple of times through the order.

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