Royals Look to Continue Magic versus Angels

Not many people thought the Kansas City Royals would be in the American League Divisional Series with Jon Lester on the mound with a lead of four runs in the eighth inning for the Oakland A’s.

However, the Royals made the first magic of the postseason and likely will provide some more before their run is over.

Out of nowhere, we have the Kansas Royals versus the Los Angeles Angels for the right to play in the AL Championship Series.

After winning in 12 innings, a valid question can be asked if something special is taking play in Kansas City.

The Royals did all they could to lose the play-in game on Tuesday night, but they still won. They were down four in the eighth, one during the ninth and even one to start the 12^th.

To start that way and to win after 29 years of not reaching the postseason means something special could be ready to pop in Kansas City.

Offensively they do not belong – last in walks and home runs – the Royals have defied the odds and somehow scored 9 runs to win the play-in.

However, they face one of baseball’s best teams in the LA Angels. The Angel’s were the league leader in runs with 773, which with dominating pitching being the rule of the day, run scoring is of vital importance. Los Angeles has Albert Pujols, Mike Trout and when healthy Josh Hamilton.
Last season the two high scoring teams in each league reached the World Series in the St. Louis Cardinals and Boston Red Sox that likely was not a coincidence.

Kansas City might not have much offense, but they surely have speed. In the wildcard play-in game versus Oakland, the Royals had 7 stolen bases. They set a new MLB record with six stolen bases while trailing in the game.

Kansas City was the league leader in stolen bases ending the season with 153, which were 31 more than any other major league team. Steals and great base running will be of vital importance to the Royals in this series.

The Angels have a strong starting rotation even with their ace Garrett Richards on the disabled list.

Jered Weaver will be on the mound to start Game 1. Matt Shoemaker has had a slight problem with an oblique strain, but was 14-3 in 20 starts this season.

C.J. Wilson has issues with his control, but has won 43 games for the Angels in the past three seasons. However, his postseason stats are not good at 1-5 with an ERA of 4.82.

The Royals rotation is not known that well, besides James Shields, but he likely will not start until Game 3. However, Jeremy Guthrie, Danny Duffy and Yordano Ventura are solid and will not back down on the mound.

Nevertheless, I like the Angels in 5.