American League Championship Series
Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals and the Toronto Blue Jays are facing each other in the American League Championship Series starting on Friday in Kansas City. The Kansas City Royals fought to defeat the AL-wild card winning Houston Astros in the American League Divisional Series after securing the best record in the American League in the regular season. The Royals are seeking their second straight World Series Appearance. The Blue Jays defeated the Texas Rangers in their ALDS in five games. The Jays made some trades at the deadline that boosted them from middle of the pack to division winners. Now they are seeking their first World Series since they won back-to-back titles in 1992-93.
Pitching
Royals
It’s no question that the Royals have struggled to pitch effectively so far in the playoffs, and mediocre pitching will not be enough to clinch. The Royals allowed 17 runs in the 5 games played, and struggled to get out of innings or keeping leads throughout the games. Through the season, the Royals ranked 10th in the league a 3.73 ERA. If the season is any indication on the way the Royals will pitch, it should be a time of up and downs as the team ranked 24th with 71 quality starts.
After using up Johnny Cueto in game 5, the Royals are expected to put Game 1 in the hands of Edinson Volquez. In the regular season, Volquez went 13-9 with a mid-level ERA of 3.55. Volquez was the pitcher in game 3, where he allowed 3 runs on 5 hits in 5.2, ultimately taking the loss in a 4-2 defeat. With Cueto more then likely not ready to play for game 2, the Royals will have options Yordano Ventura, who struggled in the ALDS, allowing 6 earned runs in 8 innings pitched.
Out of the bullpen, the team will most likely use Wade Davis as the first out. In the ALDS, he was lights out, allowing 0 runs on 1 hit in 4 innings pitched.
Blue Jays
The Blue Jay pitchers have done a good job in this postseason. They have a 3.06 ERA and have struck out 39 batters in 50 innings. They did this even though David Price gave up eight runs in 10 innings over two games. This is a big improvement on their 3.80 ERA in the regular season.
The Blue Jays will be sending Marco Estrada to the mound in Game 1. He pitched in the critical Game 3, when the Blue Jays were down two games to none. He went six and a third innings, giving up just one run on five hits while striking out four.
The Blue Jay bullpen was strong in the ALDS. Only two relievers gave up any runs, and one of the was David Price, who pitched three innings of relief and gave up three runs Game 4. LaTroy Hawkins gave up two runs in the 14th inning of Game 2. The rest of the bullpen pitched 15 and a third scoreless innings.
Batting
Royals
Though not considered an important part to the game, offense is what can make or break a game and possibly, a series. For the Royals, offense is what have won them some games. In the regular season, the Royals scored 724 runs, ranking 7th in the league. The Royals were also efficient with getting on base, ranking 11th in on base percentage with .322. In the playoffs, the bats have been alive. In the ALDS, they scored 25 times, including a flurry of 16 runs in the final two games, both of which were wins.
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The Royals have relied not only on team hitting but on individual performances. Kendrys Morales has been hot to begin the playoffs, hitting 3 home runs in the ALDS. If the Royals want to escape the ALCS early, they’ll have to look for better performances from Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. Both have yet to eclipse the .200 mark for batting average, batting .190 and .110 respectively. They have combined for 1 home run and have a combined 5 RBI.
Blue Jays
The Blue Jays led the league in runs, doubles, home runs, RBI, walks, slugging percentage, and OPS during the regular season. MVP candidate Josh Donaldson led the league in runs, RBI, and total bases while finishing third with 41 home runs. They were by far the best hitting team in the Major Leagues.
The Blue Jays scored just over five runs per game in the ALDS. Four Jays’ hitters drove in four or more runs, led by Jose Bautista with five. Donaldson only had four hits, but two of them were home runs, and he drove in four and scored five times. The Blue Jays will bring their bats to the NLCS.
Injuries
Blue Jays: Relief pitcher Brett Cecil is out with a torn calf from Game 2 of the ALDS.
Royals: Closer Greg Holland is out for the season with a ligament tear in his elbow.
Outlook
The Royals played two series against the Blue Jays. They won in Kansas City, two games to one, but lost in Toronto, three games to one. The games in Toronto were right when the Blue Jays made their big trades and started their rise to the division title. All of those games were more than two months ago, and a lot has changed since then. Expect a close series, with the Blue Jays coming out on top in seven games.