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Two teams from the final four American League clubs last season open the 2025 campaign against one another when the Cleveland Guardians visit the Kansas City Royals.
The Royals earned a wild-card berth by going 86-76, a whopping 30-game improvement from 2023, and advanced to the ALDS before losing to the Yankees. The Guardians won 92 games to win the AL Central and made it to the ALCS before bowing out at the hands of the Yankees.
Both of these teams are expected to contend for the AL Central title again in 2025, so this is one of the more fun Opening Day matchups.
MLB Opening Day games are streaming locally on fubo (Try for free). Here’s how to watch.
Royals vs. Guardians
Date: Thursday, March 27 | Time: 4:10 p.m. ET
Location: Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City)
Live stream: fubo (try for free), MLB.TV | TV: Guardians TV | FanDuel Sports KC
Probable pitchers: LHP Cole Ragans vs. RHP Tanner Bibee
Odds: CLE +110; KC -130; over/under: 7.5 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Storylines
Royals: After a monster turnaround season during which they made the playoffs for the first time since winning the World Series in 2015, the Royals are looking to avoid a backslide and instead take that next step forward. They have one of the best all-around players in baseball in Bobby Witt Jr. and a Cy Young favorite in Ragans, in addition to a veteran leader in Salvador Perez. They look a little deeper this time around, too.
Let’s also keep in mind that the Royals beat the Guardians on Aug. 27 last season to pull even atop the AL Central. The Guardians won three of the final four games between the two teams and cruised to the division title. The Royals could be looking to make a statement here to start the 2025 season.
Guardians: The Guardians were a pitching-and-defense and “do the little things” winning team last season and they’ll look to ride that wave again. They lose Platinum Glove second baseman Andrés Giménez and power-hitting first baseman Josh Naylor, but the bullpen returns not only intact, but with an addition in Paul Sewald. The offense, of course, again starts with table-setter Steven Kwan and still-somehow-underrated superstar José Ramírez.
The Guardians were 8-2 and then 17-6 and then 36-17 last season, so they’d surely love to get off to a hot start again.
