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MVP
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Re: Royal Rebuild [OOTP 19]
ALCS PREVIEW: KANSAS CITY VS. BOSTON
Boston sports top-ranked offensive unit in all of MLB
By artoodeetoo
10/13/2019
ROYALS SUPERLATIVES
Overall Record: 88-74 (1st, AL Central)
Home Record: 49-32
Away Record: 39-42
Extra Innings: 10-10
One-run Games: 25-31
RED SOX SUPERLATIVES
Overall Record: 101-61 (2nd, AL East)
Home Record: 55-26
Away Record: 46-35
Extra Innings: 11-3
One-run Games: 22-15
PITCHING PROBABLES
Game 1: LHP Chris Sale vs LHP Danny Duffy
Game 2: LHP David Price vs RHP Jake Junis
Game 3: RHP Trevor Oaks vs LHP Eduardo Rodriguez
Game 4: RHP Jimmy Nelson vs RHP Rick Porcello
Game 5 (IN): LHP Danny Duffy vs LHP Chris Salae
Game 6 (IN): LHP David Price vs RHP Jake Junis
Game 7 (IN): RHP Trevor Oaks vs LHP Eduardo Rodriguez
Before the playoffs started, it was pretty obvious that the road to the World Series would be incredibly rough -- You'd have to go through three 100-win squads, or teams with 95+ wins, to win the title. Kansas City passed the first test, sneaking by Houston in a 1-0 classic in Game 5 of the ALDS. Despite seven fewer wins than Houston in the regular season, there are arguments that could be made that Boston is the better team, perhaps much more so.
The Astros, despite their impressive win total, played in the only division in baseball to have just one team above .500. They won their division by a whopping thirty-one games, and the 77-85 Angels were the second-place team. In fact, they went 58-18 within their division. They fared pretty well outside the division, though not quite as well in going 50-36 (but compiled an 8-6 combined record against Boston and the Yankees).
It's not to take anything away from the Royals winning the ALDS. In fact, it's a pretty huge accomplishment, as Houston is only the second team to win 108 or more games and not make it out of their respective league championship series (2001 Seattle the other). Meanwhile, Boston drew the Yankees nineteen times, and went a respectable 11-8 against them, so maybe we shouldn't be surprised that this is the ALCS matchup.
As good as the Astros were offensively, Andrew Benintendi, Bryce Harper, and Rafael Devers are on a different planet offensively at their positions, and Mookie Betts isn't far behind. Justin Bour has given Boston yet another powerful left-handed bat to go with Mitch Moreland, who hit twenty homeruns in 2019. The only real weak spots in the lineup are second base and catcher, and even the duo of Robinson Chirinos and Tyler Flowers combined for twenty-nine homeruns during the regular season.
Boston's starting pitching struggled mostly in 2019, ranking in the middle of the pack in starters' and overall ERA. Chris Sale was his usual strong self, but surrendered a career-high thirty-eight homeruns, which largely contributed to his 4.25 ERA. David Price sported a near-5.00 ERA this year, and for nearly $125M over the next four seasons, that's not acceptable.
Eduardo Rodriguez, the youngest of the five-some, was 17-9 with a 3.86 ERA, fanning 208 in 197 innings. However, he struggled down the stretch, with a 4.5 ERA in August and September, averaging less than a strikeout per inning.
The bullpen has some soft spots; Matt Barnes, Carson Smith, and youngster Roniel Raudes in particular. But the back-end is as good as it gets -- closer Archie Bradley notched 27-of-31 save opportunities, and Brad Boxberger, trade acquiree Grant Dayton, and Carter Capps were good-to-great all season long. Former Royal Greg Holland even came back from injury and posted a 1.87 ERA in twenty-one innings down the stretch for the Sox.
"They don't have a lot of holes," said Royals manager Ned Yost in yesterday's conference call, previewing the series. "I think the best way to beat them is to knock their starters out early, but you have to hope they haven't run up a bunch of runs on you offensively. They're rock-solid one through nine."
Team adjusts playoff roster: Kansas City made several moves today, adding Jake Junis as a fourth starter, and adding more speed to the roster with the additions of Erick Mejia and Brett Phillips. Junis replaced Jorge Lopez on the pitching staff, and Hunter Dozier and Jorge Soler were removed from the roster for the ALCS.
Josh Fields was also replaced by southpaw Tim Hill, giving the Royals three bullpen lefties to help counter the Red Sox' heavy LHB-tilt.
Mejia also gives the Royals some more flexibility in the middle infield, something that Dozier couldn't provide. Mejia can play either middle infield position, and has played some third base in the past, although he doesn't have the arm strength to play there more than in a pinch.
Boston catchers Robinson Chirinos and Tyler Flowers have struggled with throwing out runners in 2019, throwing out just 32-of-106 (30.1%) basestealers on the season. With Billy Hamilton already on the roster, the Royals are aiming to try and manufacture runs against a Boston offense that is even better than the one they just vanquished, with the BoSox leading the American League in average, OBP, SLG, OPS, runs, hits, and extra-base hits. They also have the fourth-most homeruns in the league, but lack in the speed department, stealing just twenty-nine bases in 2019.
"We think we have an advantage in speed, obviously," said manager Ned Yost. "We're going to need as many runs as we can get. Even if we're up four, five runs late in the game, we're going to try and be aggressive."
Last edited by artoodeetoo; 02-08-2019 at 03:38 PM.
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02-07-2019, 04:29 PM
