Seeing Blue: Kansas City Royals on the cusp of Fall Classic
The Kansas City Royals came out of the 2014 regular season with a Wild Card berth, a .549 winning percentage and a second-place finish in the American League Central. The first six innings of Wild Card play included a four-run deficit in favor of the AL West champion Oakland Athletics. In the eighth inning at Kauffman Stadium, that all changed. The Royals rallied and executed a beautiful come-from-behind win in twelve innings. It was Kansas City’s first postseason win since 1985 and the taste of victory is clearly sweet to the team – as the group is yet to lose a game this postseason, just one game from the American League pennant.
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Following the Wild Card game, the Royals went on to sweep the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS with two extra-inning wins. Now, the Royals have a 3-0 lead in the ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles, and are hungry for more. Only one other team has started the postseason with a seven-game win streak: the 2007 Colorado Rockies, who were coincidentally swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.
That leaves the accomplishment of starting the postseason with eight consecutive wins untouched and up for grabs. The Royals are poised to take it. Wednesday night, Kansas City has a chance to sweep the O’s and get their ticket punched for the World Series.
Twenty seven of 33 teams that have taken a 3-0 lead in a seven-game series have gone on to win the series in four games.
Ned Yost has opted to hand the ball to left-hander Jason Vargas, who put together an 11-10 mark with a 3.71 ERA during the regular season, rather than throwing staff ace James Shields on short rest. The Kansas City skipper could opt to turn to his ace in Game 5, which is also at Kaufmann Stadium, on Thursday afternoon, but that remains to be seen.
Vargas, who hasn’t pitched since Game 1 of the ALDS against the Angels, was effective in his only outing of the postseason, limiting Mike Scioscia‘s club to two runs in six innings of work. The 31-year-old southpaw did not face Baltimore during the regular season. He will be opposed by Baltimore right-hander Miguel Gonzalez, who is hoping to keep his team’s World Series hopes alive on Wednesday.
Twenty seven of 33 teams that have taken a 3-0 lead in a seven-game series have gone on to win the series in four games. The odds point to blue victory, but will the O’s be able to put a stop to a Royal postseason?
"“We understand what’s at stake tomorrow,” Billy Butler told Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. “We understand that we have a chance to go to the World Series tomorrow. We’re going to take it one pitch at a time.”"