Kansas City Royals: Five Keys to Winning Cleveland Series

The Kansas City Royals open a critical three-game set on Friday night in Cleveland. The trio of games are massive with the team entering the series just a half-game out of the second Wild Card spot.

The Kansas City Royals are about to enter a stretch of schedule dominated by Central Division games. It could be the difference between a third postseason bid in the past four years or an October wondering what might have been.

Starting with Friday’s game in Cleveland, 20 of the team’s next 23 games will take place against division foes. That stretch includes games against Central teams each of the first 17 days of September.

Coming off Thursday’s heartbreaking loss to Colorado, which saw Mike Minor give up a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, the Kansas City Royals will look to win a second consecutive series this weekend.

As you may recall, Cleveland made a visit to Kansas City the previous weekend and took two out of three games. The first two games of the series were cakewalks for the visitors, while the hosts earned a hard-fought win in the series-finale.

What will be the keys for the Kansas City Royals to return the favor and steal a series in Cleveland?