The Royals are in a strong position heading back to Kauffman
Kansas City should like their chances.
On Monday night in the Bronx, the Royals took down the New York Yankees behind a strong night from the bullpen after Cole Ragans’ shaky start. Two days after missing out on a golden opportunity to steal Game One, Kansas City leveled the series. Now the team will head back home as Kauffman Stadium prepares to host postseason baseball for the first time since game two of the 2015 World Series. The fans are ready as numerous “Let’s go Royals” chants were heard during the Chiefs-Saints game on Monday Night Football.
The team is ready as well. Per Ragans:
“Looking forward to getting back to the K, seeing the fans there. It’s going to be fun to have playoff baseball back in Kansas City. A split here is huge. It’s basically like a brand-new series when we get to the K.”
He is correct — a split in the first two games is huge, and now the Royals have a golden opportunity to win this series. What began as a best-of-five series hosted by the Yankees has effectively turned into a best-of-three with Kansas City holding home field advantage. The Royals did what they needed to by taking a game on the road and now could finish the series without returning to New York. The Yankees won’t be intimidated by the hostile crowd, having gone 50-31 on the road in the regular season, considerably better than their 44-37 home record. But the Royals were four games better at home (45-36) than on the road (41-40) and could get a confidence boost from playing in front of a friendly crowd for the first time in this postseason.
History is also on Kansas City’s side. Since the 2-2-1 Division Series format was made permanent in 1995, there have been 44 series’ that were tied 1-1 after two games. In 29 of those, or 66%, the team that hosted games three and four won the series. Should the Royals win game three, they would be in a commanding position. Playing a Divisional Series Game Four at home up 2-1, teams are 25-6.
Kansas City has the edge on the mound for game three. Seth Lugo will stare down a lineup that he tormented a month ago to the tune of seven shutout innings. He’ll be backed up by a relief corps that has produced a 2.16 ERA in the postseason so far. The Yankees will counter with Clarke Schmidt, who was limited to 16 starts this season due to injury. He posted a 2.85 ERA, but his peripherals were considerably worse, and he will now make his first career postseason start in a hostile environment.
After spending most of September in the doldrums, Kansas City’s offense has woken up in this series, scoring nine runs while hitting .282/.325/.366. Perhaps most surprisingly, they’ve done this while getting absolutely nothing from their two best hitters. Bobby Witt Jr. has been a non-factor offensively, going 0-for-10 with four strikeouts while chasing everything below the strike zone. Vinnie Pasquantino has similarly struggled, going 0-for-9 with five K’s. The offense has come from unlikely sources. Garrett Hampson has reached base in all four of his plate appearances, Yuli Gurriel has scored all four times that he has reached, and Michael Massey and Maikel Garcia have each reached five times. Should Witt and Pasquantino get their bats going, New York’s pitching would be in trouble.
The pressure is on for the Yankees. That 2009 World Series title is only getting further in the rearview mirror, and should they lose here, it will be 15 straight seasons without a pennant. That’s a lifetime in Yankeeworld. They entered this DS feeling good, holding the top seed with no Astros or Rays or Red Sox standing in their way. After two games, they are suddenly in a precarious spot.
Meanwhile, the Royals are playing with house money. Nobody outside of their clubhouse realistically expected them to be here. But much like a decade ago, they’re here, so they might as well win.