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

For the first time since 1997, Camden Yards will host Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Friday. The Kansas City Royals (1985) and Baltimore Orioles (1983) have gone a combined 60 years since playing in a World Series, so both cities are starved for a championship. 

The Royals have been one of the best stories in baseball all year. Coming into the season viewed as a distant second-place team in the American League Central, they won 89 games to secure the franchise's first playoff berth since winning the 1985 World Series. They stole a win from Oakland in the Wild Card Game and swept the Los Angeles Angels to get here. 

The Orioles have been underestimated for years, despite making the playoffs in 2012. Most of that has to do with playing in the American League East, where if New York or Boston doesn't win, all the stories revolve around that. Buck Showalter's team just takes care of business, as it did sweeping Detroit in the division series. 

In anticipation of this momentous ALCS, we have all the information you need to know for Game 1, including starting pitchers, where to find it on the television or computer and the biggest question for both teams. 

Where: Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland

When: Friday, October 10

First Pitch: 8:07 p.m. ET

Watch: TBS

Live Stream: MLB Postseason TV (requires $4.99 subscription)

Starter	IP	ERA	WHIP	K-BB
James Shields (KC)	227.0	3.21	1.18	180-44
Chris Tillman (Bal)	207.1	3.34	1.23	150-66

Biggest question for Kansas City

Are we overrating Kansas City's small-ball tactics?

The big storyline coming into the playoffs for Kansas City was how unique the offense was in the regular season. The Royals finished last in the league with 95 home runs and 380 walks but were the most prolific stolen base team in baseball (153). 

Naturally, the questions about how the Royals were going to score enough runs to keep up with Oakland in the Wild Card Game and Los Angeles in the division series were asked. The Royals have responded by averaging a playoff-best six runs per game (minimum: three games) and are second to St. Louis in extra-base hits (10). 

Don't get me wrong, the speed element is still a huge part of what makes the Royals offense successful. They have 12 stolen bases in four games, one more than all the other playoff teams combined, via Kevin Negandhi of ESPN:

The Royals lineup isn't going to be confused with the Orioles', which led the league with 211 homers during the regular season, but there are power bats capable of hitting balls over the fence. Mike Moustakas has always had power dating back to his days as a prospect; making enough contact for it to play has been the problem. 

Eric Hosmer remains the most frustrating young talent in baseball. He's just 24 years old despite this being his fourth season, yet a variety of circumstances have prevented him from building on a solid rookie campaign in 2011 (.799 OPS). 

We are seeing in these playoffs what Moustakas and Hosmer are capable of becoming at their best. Moustakas has as many home runs as strike outs (two). Hosmer has the highest slugging percentage (1.143) and is second in total bases (16) in the playoffs (minimum: three games). 

Taking the extra base and stealing are still going to be huge parts of how the Royals score, but if they're getting the long ball with it, this offense is going to be impossible to shut down. 

Biggest question for Baltimore

Will Buck Showalter pull the plug too late?

Rob Carr/Getty Images

There aren't a lot of things to criticize Showalter for. He's one of the rare managers who earns nearly unanimous praise for all the moves he makes during a game, usually because they are correct. 

If you want to nitpick—which is what the Internet loves to do—one area where Showalter may have been too lenient in the division series is with his starting pitchers. Ben Lindbergh of Grantland talked about Baltimore's starters and Showalter's handling of them against Detroit in his ALCS preview:

"

It’s not that Buck Showalter’s early ALDS hooks were inspired: Leaving Chris Tillman in to start the sixth inning (and make his third trip through the heart of the Tigers’ order) with 105 pitches under his belt in Game 1, or allowing a roughly league-average starter like (Wei-Yin) Chen to try to work out of trouble after he’d already allowed five early runs, would have been managerial malpractice in a best-of-five series. 

"

It's easy to look back now and praise Showalter for a lot of his moves in the division series—pinch-hitting Delmon Young in Game 2; intentionally walking Nick Castellanos in the ninth inning of Game 3—but there were some things he didn't do right. 

The fact that Detroit's bullpen was terrible helped bail Showalter out for leaving Chen in longer than he should have, but the Tigers weren't that far away from winning two of those first three games. 

Chris Tillman is Baltimore's best starting pitcher and has earned some leeway because of his track record of consecutive seasons with 200 innings pitched, but Showalter is a master at playing bullpen matchups. He's also got a golden ticket in long relief with Kevin Gausman, who threw 3.2 terrific innings in Game 2. 

If Showalter ends up being the biggest problem for the Orioles in the ALCS, they will be fine. It's still important to note that there have been moments in this postseason when he's looked human. 

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