The New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals close the book on their season series Thursday night with a matchup at Kauffman Stadium.
The pregame narrative: New York is 5-0 vs. Kansas City, winning four of those matchups by multiple runs. The Royals are underdogs again tonight despite having a more promising starter on the mound.
Check out my Yankees vs. Royals prop bets, featuring two hitters: Vinnie Pasquantino and Paul Goldschmidt.
Yankees vs. Royals prop bets
Best Bet: Pasquantino over 0.5 RBI (+140)
Pasquantino is having a great June, but his hot streak goes back further than that.
This is what the first baseman has accomplished in his past 20 games:
- .421 BA
- 1.054 OPS
- 11.6% K rate
- 1+ RBI in 9 of 20
Pasquantino has spent most of the season batting in the No. 3 spot for the Royals, but he shifted to the cleanup spot near the start of June. I’d say that’s an even better spot for RBI opportunities.
Sure enough, Pasquantino has cashed his RBI prop in five of eight games since becoming the cleanup hitter.
I’m hoping he can keep that up against Yankees starter Will Warren (4-3, 5.34 ERA), who isn’t a particularly imposing pitcher.
Warren has allowed a 50.7% hard-hit rate this season, per Baseball Savant, which ranks in the third percentile in MLB. His K rate is high (29.4%, 87th percentile), but Pasquantino isn’t a big strikeout guy.
Also, Warren has allowed a .798 OPS to left-hitting players this season, so Pasquantino should enjoy a nice platoon advantage.
Key Stat: In June, Pasquantino has had 18 at-bats with runners on base (t-30th in MLB).
Best MLB picks
Goldschmidt over 0.5 runs (+105): I wish I knew whether Goldschmidt was batting leadoff or not at the time of this writing.
He was in the No. 1 spot for the first two games of this series, and if that’s the case again, this price will be quite compelling.
Goldschmidt has scored 19 runs in 22 starts as the Yankees’ leadoff man. He cashed this prop on Tuesday and Wednesday against the Royals.
Kansas City starter Seth Lugo (3-5, 3.46) is having a solid year, but he allowed four runs on seven hits when he faced the Yankees in April. And he’s allowed multiple runs in 10 of 11 starts this year.
Also, Goldschmidt is 8-for-14 with two walks and two home runs vs. Lugo.
Yankees vs. Royals prop bets made at 11:38 a.m. ET on 06/12/2025.
Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles — especially for MLB markets or NFL/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he’ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.