The Royals are inspired, in full enjoyment of their first playoff berth since 2015. They clipped the wings of the Orioles and swept them to continue their journey to the Division Series, finding a difficult challenge when they face the Yankees, leaders of the American League thanks to its record of 94 wins in the regular season.
Kansas City’s ninth is not particularly offensivewho were delegated to position number fourteen given their contribution in OPS (.710). Now, it is a team that benefits from small gaps because they shine in baserunning and it is a team that ends up striking out at low rates (19.4%).
It’s a different story than the New Yorkers, who do have top-notch artillery when it comes to hitting. They were in first place in home runs (237) and no one from the “new circuit” surpassed them in both on-base (.333) and slugging (.429) sections.
The Royals’ good recognition of the strike zone allows them to harvest quality at-bats, which is made possible by seeing the performance against breaking pitches in the sum of 21 “Run Value”, the sixth best mark in the Major Leagues in a statistic that Considers the impact on runs of each pitch depending on the count, situation and balls in play. And they also sustained production against the “offspeed”, with 23.
However, this is a lineup that looks complicated once they face fastballs, especially when they exceed 95 miles per hour, since they only slugged .392 in that circumstance.
In honor of the “bomber” label, the Yankees are not intimidated when it comes to facing fastballs, crushing all of them at .423, according to the previously filtered percentage and established speed. Likewise, they finished leaders against the “offspeed” and this is well indicated by the 25 Run Value, while they regressed, although it is a notable mark, in the breaks of breaks (18).
Those led by Matt Quatraro have their distinctive starting pitchingwhich in the campaign allowed them the second best ERA (3.55), the fourth in pitching independent of the defense (3.68) and they minimized rivals to a batting average of .235.
They have announced Michael Wacha and Cole Ragans for the first and second games, who should be joined by Seth Lugo and thus form a trident of men with the ability to navigate several innings.
While Aaron Boone’s rotation was diminished at the beginning, but they ended up managing to appear in eleventh position in earned runs (3.85).
It is a mistake to underestimate them, who as a group occupied the second box of stuff (108), referring to the characteristics of the releases and this can point the way to a better presentation.
Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón will take the ball in the first games, with Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt as backup. Veteran Marcus Stroman should be available to contribute in any tight or tight situation in the bullpen.
Yankees relievers are a differentiatorexhibiting quality and results such as the highest strikeout rate of the harvest (27.7%). In addition, they complicate the existence of rivals because the speed of their fastballs was 93.2 mph and we know that it does not help them.
Bullpen management is an area to be closely observed in the Royals, taking into account the limitations of the roster. Although closer Lucas Erceg is a tough nut to crack, his previous performance (4.13 ERA) is undeniable.
The stadiums invite an offensive seriessupported by the Park Factor ratings that Kauffman (104) and Yankee Stadium (100) received in the last three years. This measurement looks at the frequency of each hitting event and then placed on a scale where 100 is the average.
In general terms, the characteristics of the teams call for a high traffic of runners on the bases, although the Royals should be concerned that they only scored three times in the wild card round and this is insufficient.
Say no more and let’s go to play-ball.
