5 issues Yankees followers ought to know in regards to the Royals heading into Saturday night time’s Recreation 1 of the ALDS on the Stadium:
1. Final one standing
Their postseason berth — a traditionally unbelievable one, because the third crew within the growth period to lose at the very least 106 video games and make the playoffs the next yr — marked their first since successful the World Collection in 2015, with 34-year-old Salvador Perez the lone holdover from that membership.
And his numbers, by some means, maintain enhancing: .271 with a .786 OPS and 104 RBIs, for his finest season since 2021.
2. Sum of the components doesn’t equal the entire
The Royals are inclined to put the ball in play to fabricate runs and keep away from strikeouts (1,161 within the common season, second-fewest in MLB), and AL MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr. (.887 OPS) and Perez (1.107 OPS) every discovered particular person success in opposition to the Yankees in 2024.
However Kansas Metropolis, in seven regular-season conferences, nonetheless couldn’t maintain tempo with the Yankees offense and picked up simply 24 runs.
3. All roads result in Aroldis
May polarizing nearer Aroldis Chapman by some means — albeit not directly — harm the Yankees in October once more?
The commerce in 2023 that shipped him from the Royals to the Rangers netted Cole Ragans.
Till then, Ragans had largely pitched out of the bullpen.
However Kansas Metropolis instantly made him a full-time starter, he made his first All-Star Recreation in 2024, struck out 223 hitters (fifth-most in MLB) and shut down the Orioles within the AL Wild Card Collection as a key piece of a rotation with the second-best ERA-plus within the AL.
He’ll get the prospect to do the identical in Recreation 2.
Observe The Submit’s protection of the Yankees within the postseason:
4. One thing has to present …
The Royals pitching workers, led by a trio of elite starters in Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, allowed the fewest house runs per 9 innings (0.92) in MLB throughout the common season, whereas the Yankees led the majors with 237 homers. In these seven conferences, although, the Yankees slugged 10 homers.
The fashionable period
Whereas the Yankees and Royals haven’t met in October because the 1980 ALCS, Kansas Metropolis supervisor Matt Quatraro already has skilled a latest style of going through the Yankees within the postseason.
Quatraro served because the Rays third-base coach in 2018 and bench coach from 2019-22. And in 2020, Tampa Bay eradicated the Yankees within the ALDS.
