The KC Royals travel to the South Side of Chicago—home to Barack Obama, Leroy Brown and the Chicago White Sox. It will be a three-day affair and the first of roughly 108,085 games between the two squads this season.
A natural rival, as these two have become over the years as much by proximity as by actual malice, needs little to juice up the series. But these two teams also are likely going nowhere this year, if early results are any indication, and angrying up the blood may require a little more push.
So let’s work up the hatred.
Top Five Reasons to Hate the White Sox
- Disco Demolition Night
- The entire bizarre Adam Laroche situation.
- The exploding scoreboard.
- The Michael Jordan Baseball Experiment (not that it wouldn’t have happened anyway).
- Shorts
Who Is Most Likely to Start Some Business that May Result In a Brawl?
Most of the principals involved in the 2015 Royals-White Sox donnybrook have departed, and a quick search doesn’t turn up much for the remaining players. But if you had to pick someone, maybe it would be Todd Frazier? All 6-3, 220 pounds of him. You probably don’t want any of Todd Frazier.
History of Bad Blood with the KC Royals?
Well, there’s the aforementioned 2015 dust-up. And division rivalries always have a way of turning up some fisticuffs every so often.
Oh, and there’s the time when two White Sox fans attacked Tom Gamboa as he was minding his own business and coaching first base. That bad-bloody enough for you?
Do They Have Any Bad Humans on the Roster?
Nah they seem pretty harmless. Maybe Mike Pelfrey will be caught running a cock-fighting ring or something to really get some oomf in this spot.
Most Butt Player
Melky Cabrera. Melky Cabrera is a putz. Remember trading him for Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Verdugo, only to watch him turn into an All-Star (thanks to some pharmaceutical enhancement)? Yeah. Screw that guy.
Royal most likely to light up the White Sox?
Lorenzo Cain lifetime against the Pale Hose: .298 average, .800 OPS, nine homers, 19 doubles in 71 games. Maybe not the best numbers, but looking at some of the other regulars… Cain stands out. In a good way.
Will This Series Be Fun?
Maybe. As bad as the KC Royals have been (and this has been pretty bad early on, all things being equal), the White Sox will probably be worse. And Jason Vargas and Danny Duffy are throwing the first two games—aka, New Age Tom Glavine and Other Tom Glavine.