Royals - Orioles: Starting pitchers and lineups for AL Wild Card series game 1

The Kansas City Royals visit the Baltimore Orioles today, Tuesday, October 1, in Game 1 of their best-of-three wild-card round, with the game starting at 4:08 p.m. ET.

Royals starting line-up

The Royals are back in the post-season for the first time since 2015 and they are starting their return with Cole Ragans, the 26-year-old left-hand pitcher from Gainesville, Florida, who joined the Royals from the Texas Rangers back in the summer of 2023.

Royals line-up

1. Michael Massey 2B

2. Bobby Witt Jr. SS

3. Vinnie Pasqualino DH

4. Salvador Perez C

5. Yuli Gurriel 1B

6. MJ Melendez LF

7. Tommy Pham RF

8. Kyle Isbel CF

9. Maikel Garcia 3B

Oriols starting line-up

The Orioles start with 29-year-old Corbin Burnes, from Bakersfield, California, who comes into the game raring to go: “Postseason baseball is a different monster. Knowing that this Wild Card set’s the best-of-three, it’s important to win Game 1 tomorrow so that you can win Game 2 and get the extra off-day and set things up into the DS,” Burnes said. “We’re here. We’re in October. It’s time to go.”

Oriols line-up

1. Gunnar Henderson SS

2. Jordan Westburg 2B

3. Anthony Santander RF

4. Ryan Mountcastle 1B

5. Adley Ruschman DH

6. Colton Cowser LF

7. Ramón Urías 3B

8. Cedric Mullins CF

9. James McCann C

Orioles - Royals favorites

The Orioles, led by Burnes, are -148 favorites to pick up the Game 1 win, with the Royals at +126.

Orioles - Royals next games

Game 2

Royals - Orioles, tomorrow, Wednesday, October 2 at 4:38 p.m. ET.

Game 3 if required

Royals - Orioles, Thursday, October 3, at 4:08 p.m. ET.

Note all Wildcard games are played at the home ground of the team with the higher seeding.