Jazz Chisholm is a great talent. But he might not be the smartest player around. He said the Royals got lucky after Kansas City beat the Yankees this past Monday night to even this playoff series at 1-1.

Just added motivation for the Royals, who are playing in their first postseason home game since 2015.

I like the Royals at this price being home and in a pitching matchup of Clarke Schmidt vs. Seth Lugo.

Schmidt will be making his first playoff appearance of the season. He does not have a good postseason track record with an 0-2 record and 11.75 ERA in three appearances during the 2022 playoffs. The Royals are better offensively when playing at home.

Lugo had an All-Star season. He has a 1.42 ERA in four playoff appearances spanning 6 1/3 innings. Lugo was 16-9 with a 3.00 ERA during the regular season. He stymied the Yankees when he faced them on Sept. 10 pitching seven scoreless innings giving up just three hits with 10 strikeouts. Aaron Judge and Chisholm are a combined 1-for-19 against Lugo.