Baltimore Orioles vs. Kansas City Royals: Keys for Each Team to Win ALCS Game 1

Friday night marks the start of the American League Championship Series featuring the Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals.

Those are two clubs that you would have never thought of to reach this moment of the postseason, given the other elites in the American League that have had recent success in making deep postseason runs.

Despite a large majority of the baseball community writing off each team prior to the start of the season, the O's and Royals have their successes, taken their lumps and kept pushing forward.

They've done it on their own terms as well.

Considering the fact that Kansas City ended the regular season dead last in home runs across both leagues yet finished right in the middle of the pack in runs proves that it is a team that should be feared given, that it can score in any number of ways through small ball.

For the Orioles, the opposite is true.

They rely on the long ball to put up runs in bunches, yet they've managed to get away from that so far in the postseason, stringing together hits successfully in big innings—specifically in the bottom of the eighth inning in Game 2 of the American League Division Series when they came back from a 6-3 deficit to gain a 7-6 lead in a matter of minutes.

Each club is going to want to stay true to what got it here in the first place, but given the differences between the two, they will most likely be altering their respective game plans to neutralize the other's strengths.

Here are the keys for each team to take Game 1 of what will definitely be the start of a thrilling series. 

Kansas City Royals: Create Havoc on the Basepaths

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

By this point it's well-known that the Royals aren't afraid to run wild on the bases against anyone they face.

Case in point: Oakland Athletics starter for the American League Wild Card Game, Jon Lester, was stolen on three times in his outing against the Royals to kick off the 2014 MLB playoffs.

This is a pretty alarming statistic, given the fact that Lester had only given up four stolen bases to opposing baserunners all season.

With speedsters Alcides Escobar, Norichika Aoki and Lorenzo Cain sitting atop the order for the Royals, it is imperative that they get on base to give the pitcher something to think about while still worrying about the batter to reach base on an infield single.

With a combined 76 stolen bases on the regular season, the three players will definitely keep the Orioles pitchers up at night. Even with more accomplished hitters in Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon in the heart of the lineup, these three may be the more dangerous group.

Kansas City Royals: Get to the Seventh with the Lead

Ed Zurga/Getty Images

The Kansas City Royals have a phenomenal bullpen.

It's been said time and time again, but the fact is they can shorten a game severely with the sheer talent of their arms in the back end.

Flamethrower Kelvin Herrera, starter-turned-reliever Wade Davis and shutdown closer Greg Holland all ended the regular season with sub-1.50 ERAs.

The key to their success has been the ability to strike out batters at high rates—Davis and Holland both had strikeout-per-nine ratios of over 13—and to keep the opposing hitters off base, as only Herrera posted a regular-season WHIP higher than one (1.143).

This bullpen may very well have the advantage over Baltimore's, so it's imperative that the Royals hold the lead heading into the seventh inning.

Baltimore Orioles: Jump out to an Early Lead

Nick Wass/Associated Press

Piggybacking right off the Royals' key of getting a lead before the seventh, the Orioles are going to need to jump out to an early lead themselves.

Much in contrast to the American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers, the Orioles can't just wait this one out.

They are going to need to be aggressive and attack in a hurry.

The reason being, the Orioles are no chumps in the bullpen either.

Lefty Andrew Miller, setup man Darren O'Day and sinker-baller closer Zach Britton have all recorded sub-.170 ERAs on the season yet have actually been even better than Kansas City's bullpen at limiting opposing baserunners. Each supplied sub-1.00 WHIPs for the Orioles in 2014.

The standout of the bunch is Miller, who since, joining Baltimore before the trade deadline, has pitched to a 0.600 WHIP and a strikeout-per-nine ratio of a sparkling 15.3.

With both teams needing to get out to early leads for the best chance to win, this game—and truth be told, the entire series—will be a sprint and not a marathon.

Baltimore Orioles: Tillman Stays Stingy with Base Stealers

Rob Carr/Getty Images

In order for Chris Tillman to be successful in Friday night's opening game, he'll have to keep the Royals' speed in check all night, which is something he's been doing extremely well this season.

In 34 games started and more than 200 innings pitched this season, Tillman allowed just one stolen base while he was on the mound, with his batterymate throwing out the opposing base stealer three times for just a 25 percent success rate.

If the Orioles hope to sap the life out of the Royals, it'll start with giving the Kansas City baserunners plenty to worry about with a few looks over to first.

All statistics provided by Baseball-Reference.com or ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.