Two top-line left-handed pitchers face off on Friday night, as the Kansas City Royals play their 2026 season opener against the Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n
Chris Sale (2.58 ERA last season) and the Braves are set as home favorites in this game as they look to rebound from a fourth-place finish in the AL East in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Royals will send Cole Ragans (4.67 ERA last season) to the mound after he missed a good chunk of the 2025 campaign with a left rotator cuff strain. Ragans was elite in the 2024 season, posting a 3.14 ERA while striking out 223 batters in 186.1 innings of work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kansas City finished the 2025 season two games over .500, but it missed the playoffs after making it there in the 2024 campaign. Which of these squads will start 2026 on the right foot?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at the odds, my favorite prop bet and a prediction for Friday\u2019s season opener.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Royals vs. Braves Odds, Run Line and Total<\/p>\n
Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook<\/a><\/p>\n Run Line<\/p>\n Royals +1.5 (-181)Braves -1.5 (+149)<\/p>\n Moneyline<\/p>\n Total<\/p>\n Royals vs. Braves Probable PitchersKansas City: Cole Ragans (0-0, 0.00 ERA)Atlanta: Chris Sale (0-0, 0.00 ERA)Royals vs. Braves How to WatchDate: Friday, March 27Time: 7:15 p.m. ESTVenue: Truist ParkHow to Watch (TV): Royals.TV\/ Braves.TVRoyals record: 0-0Braves record: 0-0Royals vs. Braves Best MLB Prop BetBraves\/Royals Best Prop BetNo Run First Inning (-165)<\/p>\n Both Sale and Ragans were solid in the first inning last season, so I wouldn\u2019t be shocked to see both teams go scoreless in the opening frame on Friday.<\/p>\n Ragans posted a 2.08 ERA in the first inning last season, allowing just three runs and one homer in the opening frame. Overall, Ragans had a 4.67 ERA in limited starts, so the first inning was actually one of his better frames in 2025.<\/p>\n As for Sale, he had a 2.70 ERA in the first inning, allowing just seven runs all season in the opening frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n The NRFI hit in 70.37 percent of the Braves\u2019 games and 67.90 percent of the Royals\u2019 games in the 2025 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Royals vs. Braves Prediction and Pick<\/p>\n Sale has really rebounded after some injury-riddled seasons in Boston, and he led the Braves to a 12-9 record in his 21 appearances last season even though the team finished well below .500.<\/p>\n Atlanta was 10 games under .500 in 2025 but only three games under .500 at home. So, can it get things started on the right foot against this Royals squad?<\/p>\n Ragans struggled in 2025 when he was able to pitch, and Kansas City\u2019s offense remained a major issue, especially against left-handed arms. The Royals were 23rd in the league in OPS against lefties in 2025.<\/p>\n The Braves, on the other hand, were 13th.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since we don\u2019t have much data to go off of for 2026, I\u2019m going to lean with Sale and the Braves at home. Sale allowed three or fewer runs in 18 of 21 outings last season, giving Atlanta a pretty solid floor in this game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pick: Braves Moneyline (-143 at DraftKings)<\/a><\/p>\n Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.<\/p>\n If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.<\/p>\n Claim the latest\u00a0DraftKings promo code<\/a>\u00a0offer today. Sign up and win your first $5 bet to get\u00a0$200 in bonus bets instantly.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two top-line left-handed pitchers face off on Friday night, as the Kansas City Royals play their 2026 season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,5,192,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-646402","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-braves","8":"tag-atlanta","9":"tag-atlanta-braves","10":"tag-atlantabraves","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-braves","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116300922667889663","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646402"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646402\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}