Game CX: Royals at Tigers

Kansas City has no more games against the White Sox. Now the test begins.

The Royals swept the White Sox for the 2nd time in as many weeks yesterday, officially ending their season series. Kansas City finished 12-1 against the South Siders, and the sweep improved their record to 60-49. If you’re doing the math at home, the Royals are 48-48 against the rest of the league.

Today, they start the final ¹⁄₃ of the season, a two-month stretch that features the 2nd toughest remaining schedule in baseball.

Playing .500 ball the rest of the way gets Kansas City to 87-75. I rounded up a win because they have 53 games left, but you get the point. Last year, the Toronto Blue Jays captured the final Wild Card spot with 89 wins.

In other words, it’s gonna be tough. The new trade deadline acquisitions help. In fact, they improved Kansas City’s playoff odds more than any other team. But if you look closely at that schedule, these games against Detroit matter more than most.

While not as bad as Chicago, a bar I recognize is impossible not to clear, the Tigers are the only below .500 team the Royals play more than three times in the next two months. And with the Rays throwing in the towel on their playoff push, these next seven games feel extra important. Kansas City gets four against a Detroit team that has lost seven of 10 before getting three games at home against a Red Sox team they are battling for the final Wild Card spot with.

So yeah. The bad news? The road to the postseason is going to be hard. The good news? The Royals have a road to the postseason and will almost certainly play meaningful games in September for the first time since 2017. This is going to be fun.

It starts with Seth Lugo getting back on track after his worst and most frustrating start of the season, two things that are not always true. He gave up six earned runs across 6+ innings, half of which came on Patrick Wisdom’s grand slam, which happened when Lugo was no longer on the mound.

They also came after some questionable missed strike calls killed his 7th inning and forced Matt Quatraro to go to Sam Long with the bases loaded.

He faces a struggling Keider Montero, who has given up five runs in each of his last three starts. Here are the lineups for the series opener.