Royals vs. Angels: Game 1 Time, TV Info, Live Stream and More

The Kansas City Royals rode their luck in the one-game playoff against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday, but the problem with luck is that it's bound to turn around at some point.

Kansas City might've used up eight of its nine lives in that 9-8 victory. Momentum and good fortune only go so far. The Los Angeles Angels finished with the best record in the American League for a reason.

This American League Division Series matchup should be extremely close, with neither team looking to have a distinct advantage over the other. The Angels have a better offense, but the Royals are a better defensive team and have much more speed on the basepaths.

In any five-game series, taking Game 1 is of the utmost importance.

When: Thursday, Oct. 2, at 9 p.m. ET

Where: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim, California

Watch: TBS

Live Stream: TBS.com and MLB.tv

Preview

Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

Although the Royals scored nine runs against the A's and closed a four-run deficit, the Wild Card Game also demonstrated that Kansas City relies heavily on small ball and manufacturing runs. Salvador Perez led the team this season with 17 home runs, and Alex Gordon had the most runs batted in with 74.

The Angels had three players finish with 17 or more homers and another three with 75 or more RBI.

Here's a look at some of the teams' offensive ranks, courtesy of FanGraphs.

	AVG	OBP	SLG	R	SB	ISO	wOBA	wRC+
Royals	.263 (4)	.314 (16)	.376 (19)	651 (14)	153 (1)	.113 (30)	.306 (18)	94 (17)
Angels	.259 (6)	.322 (7)	.406 (5)	773 (1)	81 (22)	.147 (5)	.321 (7)	110 (2)

Los Angeles clearly owns the offensive edge.

The great equalizer in this series will be the Royals' bullpen trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland. Combined, the trio gave up 29 earned runs in 204 innings pitched. According to USA Today's Jorge L. Ortiz, Kansas City was 72-1 when leading after the seventh inning and 79-1 when leading after the eighth.

Anything can happen in the postseason, but you shouldn't bet against the Royals if they're carrying a lead into the later innings.

Game 1 of this series features a battle of two "Dirtbags," with Jason Vargas facing off against Jered Weaver, his former teammate at Long Beach State, per the LBSU Athletics Twitter account:

Vargas admitted that it's nice to face off against Weaver but didn't want that to be the dominating storyline for the series opener, per ESPN Radio LA's Beto Duran:

According to ESPN.com's Park Factors, Angel Stadium is more of a pitcher-friendly park and plays to Vargas' fly-ball tendencies. In 129 innings in Anaheim, the 31-year-old is 9-3 with a 2.86 ERA.

However, Angels hitters have had his number this year, tagging him for seven earned runs on 12 hits over 10.1 innings pitched.

Los Angeles hitters have had a ton of success against left-handed pitching in general in 2014. They've combined for a slash line of .273/.336/.427. According to FanGraphs, the Angels are tied for first in the major leagues in weighted runs created plus, at 120, when facing lefties.

Josh Hamilton in particular has really hit well against lefties, with a slash line of .330/.367/.516. Among Angels hitters with at least 40 plate appearances against left-handed pitching, Hamilton is second in wRC+ at 154 according to FanGraphs.

The 2010 AL MVP has dealt with various maladies over the last few weeks, but his status for Game 1 is already confirmed, per ESPN's Pedro Gomez:

Royals manager Ned Yost is relatively unyielding when it comes to his three best relievers. It took a complete meltdown from Yordano Ventura until he opted for Herrera in the sixth inning of the Wild Card Game.

If the Angels can beat up on Vargas early in the game, then Kansas City could be in serious trouble.

The first six innings will likely decide the outcome. Whoever has the lead heading into the seventh is unlikely to surrender it over the subsequent three innings.