AL Wild Card: Lester, A’s battle Shields, Royals in Kansas City

In a matchup of two teams with wildly different stories, the Kansas City Royals and the Oakland Athletics will match up Tuesday night in the one-game AL Wild Card contest at Kaufmann Stadium.

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Oakland (88-74) plummeted in the standings over the season’s final two months, going 22-43 in August and September, barely clawing their way into the Wild Card spot on the season’s final day behind a dominant outing by right-hander Sonny Gray. Prior to their collapse, a midseason trade netted them Boston Red Sox left-hander Jon Lester, who will take the ball in Tuesday’s must-win contest.

Lester is arguably the best postseason pitcher active in the game today, with a 2.11 ERA across 13 postseason appearances in his career. The two-time World Series champion southpaw has been especially good against the Royals in his career, boasting a 9-3 mark with a 1.84 ERA. This season, the 30-year-old went 16-11 with a 2.46 earned run average between Boston and Oakland – and Tuesday will mark his first postseason appearance not wearing a Red Sox uniform.

Countering Lester will be Kansas City right-hander James Shields, who was acquired several seasons ago by the Royals with just such an instance in mind. In the season’s final month, the KC ace posted a 2.31 ERA, which his team hopes will carry over into the Wild Card game. His 4.98 career postseason ERA leaves a great deal to be desired. It should also be noted that six of Shields’ eight losses this season did come at home, where he posted a 3.51 ERA.

Kansas City (89-73) is making its first postseason appearance in 29 years in front of the home faithful, while Oakland is looking to put the regular season’s final two months behind them in a commanding fashion.

First pitch is set for 8:00 p.m. ET at Kauffman Stadium. ESPN Radio will carry the broadcast nationally, while 95.7 FM in Oakland and KCSP 610 has the radio call in the Kansas City area. TBS has the television coverage of the contest.

Here are tonight’s starting lineups: