Kansas City Royals: Sixth Postseason Picture Update

Loyal Fans Only

When you really think about it, the Kansas City Royals used to toil near the bottom of the American League. So it’s easy for Royals fans to have empathy for those teams that are practically limping to the finish line this season.

Hopefully those same Royals fans are just as understanding when their own team is likely back in this spot next year.

Chicago White Sox

Overall record (through Sunday): 56-86

Last week: 2-5

This week: Vs. Kansas City Royals (Mon.-Wed.); at Detroit Tigers (Thu.-Sun.)

The White Sox have a lot of young talent that will see them challenge for the playoffs at some point in the coming years. 2017 is not that year, though.

Chicago ran into a buzzsaw to start the week, getting swept by Cleveland in four games. To be fair, the White Sox only got blown out once in the series. They followed that up with a pair of weekend wins over the lowly Giants.

This week presents a chance for the team to pick up some wins. First are three games against the Kansas City Royals, who are as unpredictable as they come, and then there are four games versus the Tigers.

The only problem for Chicago? All seven games are outside of the Windy City.

Detroit Tigers

Overall record (through Sunday): 60-82

Last week: 2-4

This week: At Cleveland (Mon.-Wed.); vs. Chicago White Sox (Thu.-Sun.)

Detroit has the unenviable task of trying to end Cleveland’s insane 18-game winning streak. They also have to try to end the streak at Progressive Field. Good luck with that. (Oh, wait.)

After what could easily be a sweep, the Tigers host the White Sox in a four-game set between the teams with the two worst records in the AL.

If nobody shows up to a baseball game, does it still count? We might find out the answer this coming weekend.

Oakland Athletics

Overall record (through Sunday): 63-80

Last week: 5-2

This week: Off Monday; at Boston Red Sox (Tue.-Thu.); at Philadelphia Phillies (Fri.-Sun.)

The Oakland Athletics were incredibly close to pulling off a perfect week. Instead the team will have to settle for five wins against two of the teams currently in the top six in the AL’s overall standings.

Oakland lost a pair of close games to Los Angeles to open the week before a Wednesday win over the Angels. The A’s carried that momentum into a weekend set with the Astros, as Oakland won all four games.

The most impressive aspect is how thorough the beating was. Oakland scored nine-plus runs in every game, while Houston put up just 15 total runs—over half of which came in the series-opener.

If this team can find some pitching next season, Oakland could make some noise in the crowded West Division.

Toronto Blue Jays

Overall record (through Sunday): 66-77

Last week: 3-3

This week: Vs. Baltimore Orioles (Mon.-Wed.); at Minnesota Twins (Thu.-Sun.)

Toronto has nothing really left to play for this season as a group. Sure there are several players who have something to prove over these last few weeks of the season, but the Blue Jays, collectively, have been reduced to spoilers.

It’s a role they have a chance to play in a prominent way this week: Toronto hosts Baltimore for three games and travels to Minnesota for four. With some of the top Wild Card contenders on the docket, plus three games against the Kansas City Royals next week, the Blue Jays can at least influence the postseason.

Even without being there.

Running out of Time

These teams aren’t too far behind the group right in front of them. However, with the dwindling number of games remaining and the sheer number of teams ahead of them, this trio of teams has a much smaller margin for error than its competition.

With as tight as this Wild Card race has been, it’s no coincidence that most of the teams on this list suffered the worst weeks of those in the chase. They have time to turn it around—all are within 3.5 or three games of the second Wild Card holder—but not much of it.

Tampa Bay Rays

Overall record (through Sunday): 71-73

Last week: 3-3

This week: Vs. New York Yankees (Mon.-Wed. at New York Mets due to Hurricane Irma); off Thursday; vs. Boston Red Sox (Fri.-Sun.)

Tampa Bay had one of the toughest schedules among contenders this past week. The Rays hosted the Twins and visited the Red Sox—two of the five teams currently in a playoff spot.

Unfortunately, the schedule only gets harder from here. This week it’s three-game sets with the Yankees and the Red Sox. Does the schedule get easier after this gauntlet, you ask?

No, it doesn’t. The Rays close the season against the Cubs (two games), Orioles (four games), Yankees (three games) and Orioles (three games). If Tampa Bay makes the playoffs, it will have surely earned it.

Besides the unforgiving schedule, Mother Nature—namely Hurricane Irma—is creating another obstacle for the team to overcome. The massive storm has forced the Rays-Yankees series to move from Tropicana Field to Citi Field (home of the New York Mets) where Tampa Bay will play as the home team. It’s too soon to know if the weekend series against Boston will be moved.

Seattle Mariners

Overall record (through Sunday): 71-72

Last week: 2-4

This week: At Texas Rangers (Mon.-Thu.); at Houston Astros (Fri.-Sun.)

Seattle has been unable to string together enough wins to truly challenge Minnesota, but the Mariners have also pulled off enough wins to keep the Twins in their sights.

Over the past three weeks, Seattle has followed the pattern of winning one and losing one series each week. It’s not the kind of pattern that results in a postseason bid when the standings are this cluttered.

This past week, the Mariners suffered a sweep at the hands of the Astros before taking two of three against the Angels. Based on how fluky things have been in the West Division, I’ll guess Seattle loses its series with Texas this week and wins its series in Houston.

Regardless, seven road games will make for a tough week and could see the Mariners fall further out of the race.

Baltimore Orioles

Overall record (through Sunday): 71-72

Last week: 1-5

This week: At Toronto Blue Jays (Mon.-Wed.); at New York Yankees (Thu.-Sun.)

It’s hard not to feel bad for the Orioles when you see they faced the Yankees and the scorching-hot team from Cleveland this past week.

Last Monday, the Orioles were right behind the Twins in the Wild Card standings. Baltimore and Los Angeles were jointly 1.5 games back of Minnesota. Now, even after the Twins’ rough week, the Orioles find themselves with four teams to leap past to grab the second Wild Card slot.

The schedule is a little kinder this week with Toronto replacing Cleveland, but New York is still on the docket. The Orioles should be encouraged, I suppose, to have kept things close in four of their five losses last week. But at this point, there really are no moral victories.

With no days off until Sept. 25, Baltimore will need to rebound quickly from a disappointing week. If the Orioles can’t, they could be forced to face a truly uphill climb behind another team or two next Monday.

Narrowing the Deficit

This collection of teams did the best job taking advantage of what one of its own—the Kansas City Royals—were able to do this week. Flip Saturday and Sunday’s results in Kansas City, no team is closer than three games behind Minnesota.

The Royals, though, put themselves and the Rangers within 2.5 games and helped the Angels stay just one game back. Feel free to send us baskets of mini muffins, as a thank you, at any point.

Texas Rangers

Overall record (through Sunday): 71-71

Last week: 3-3

This week: Vs. Seattle Mariners (Mon.-Thu.); at Los Angeles Angels (Fri.-Sun.)

When Texas lost to New York on Sunday evening, there were four teams simultaneously at 71-71 in the American League. If that doesn’t illustrate the lunacy of this Wild Card race, then nothing will.

Of course, Seattle lost minutes later and Baltimore predictably fell to Cleveland on Sunday night. That left the Rangers and Royals as the lone teams sitting right at .500 in the AL.

Texas’ next 10 games will help determine the fate of several potential playoff teams. Seven games total with Seattle will likely make-or-break this season for one of the teams. There’s also a three-game set with the Angels this weekend, which will be huge for the Halos.

The Rangers have to like their close to the season with seven of their final 10 games against the Athletics, plus three games with the Astros. The last seven of which are at home (three against Houston and four against Oakland).

Kansas City Royals

Overall record (through Sunday): 71-71

Last week: 4-3

This week: Vs. Chicago White Sox (Mon.-Wed.); at Cleveland (Thu.-Sun.)

The Kansas City Royals looked dead in the water last week after consecutive losses to the Twins on Thursday and Friday. The demoralizing defeats—including a blown ninth-inning lead on Thursday—had the team 4.5 games behind Minnesota in the Wild Card hunt.

But the Royals turned it around with a pair of well-played games to split the series. Even if Kansas City doesn’t catch Minnesota, another team might be able to thanks to the Royals’ efforts this past weekend. The results certainly helped those listed on the previous slide stay within touching distance of the playoffs.

This week’s schedule looks eerily similar to last week’s in the fact that it consists of three games with what is essentially a Triple-A team masquerading as a Central Division club and a postseason position holder. Instead of Detroit and Minnesota, the boxscores will say Chicago and Cleveland.

If the Kansas City Royals don’t perform better in Cleveland than they did their previous trip, it won’t matter what they are able to do in Chicago. As many fans probably remember when they awaken at night in a cold sweat, Kansas City put up exactly zero runs in a three-game series with Cleveland in late August.

Here’s hoping that history doesn’t repeat itself.

Los Angeles Angels

Overall record (through Sunday): 73-70

Last week: 3-3

This week: Off Monday; vs. Houston Astros (Tue.-Thu.); vs. Texas Rangers (Fri.-Sun.)

The Angels failed to take full advantage of the Twins’ uneven week. Los Angeles picked up a half-game on the team just north of it in the standings but could have easily caught or passed Minnesota.

The week started well enough with a pair of high-scoring wins over Oakland, but three consecutive losses—one to the Athletics and two to the Mariners—cost Los Angeles. The Angels salvaged a win against Seattle on Sunday, but it still felt like a disappointing week.

Depending on how you look at it, the schedule either gets easier or harder for the Angels over the coming days. After nine straight road games to begin September, Los Angeles will play nine in a row at home. However, the teams they will face are much tougher.

The road trip consisted of trips to Texas, Oakland and Seattle. While the homestand involves visits from Houston, Texas and Cleveland. It could very well be a season-defining homestand for the Angels.

AL second wild card spot

Minnesota Twins

Overall record (through Sunday): 74-69

Last week: 3-4

This week: Off Monday; vs. San Diego Padres (Tue.-Wed.); vs. Toronto Blue Jays (Thu.-Sun.)

Another week, another missed opportunity for Minnesota to put some of their Wild Card challengers away.

For the second straight weekend, the Twins had a chance to all but eliminate the Kansas City Royals from playoff contention. For the second straight weekend, they were unable to do so.

After letting the Royals take two of three on the road to begin the month of September, the Twins only managed a split after winning the first two games this past weekend in Kansas City. It keeps the Kansas City Royals within 2.5 games of the second Wild Card spot.

It also allowed some of their opponents to close ground they otherwise wouldn’t have. It allowed others to keep from falling further behind after rough weekends of their own. (I’m looking at you, Baltimore and Seattle.)

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Minnesota dropped two of three in Tampa Bay to start the week. The good news for Twins fans is this: Nobody seems to want the playoff spot you hold. Plus, the schedule really eases up this week.

Two series against bottom-feeders San Diego and Toronto—both series coming at home—should prove to be a fix for what ails Minnesota. Expect the Twins to strengthen their grip on this spot in the coming week.

AL first wild card spot

New York Yankees

Overall record (through Sunday): 77-65

Last week: 4-2

This week: Vs. Tampa Bay Rays (Mon.-Wed. at New York Mets due to Hurricane Irma); vs. Baltimore Orioles (Thu.-Sun.)

New York continues to take care of business against anyone not named Cleveland, which is understandable given how en fuego that team has been recently.

The Yankees won two of three games against both the Orioles and the Rangers this week. Given the position those two teams are in and the fact both series were on the road, that’s a great week for the team that solidly holds the American League’s first Wild Card position.

Going back to August, the Yankees have won five consecutive series against any team not from Cleveland. Aside from the Tigers, those series wins have all come against teams that can be considered fighting for a playoff spot. Now, that’s an impressive run.

The schedule will continue to test New York over the coming 10 days. The Yankees will stay in New York for all 10 games, but the first three will take place at Citi Field. With Hurricane Irma making landfall, the Rays and Yankees will play at the Mets’ home stadium with Tampa Bay serving as the home team.

After that, the Yankees will head back to the Bronx for a four-game set against the Orioles. The Twins will then come to town to open the following week.

By the time the playoffs roll around, this team should be well-prepared. It’s looking more and more like Yankee Stadium will host the AL Wild Card Game with possibly Luis Severino throwing for New York.

Who would have thought that in April?

AL East leader

Boston Red Sox

Overall record (through Sunday): 81-62

Last week: 4-2

This week: Off Monday; vs. Oakland Athletics (Tue.-Thu.); at Tampa Bay Rays (Fri.-Sun.)

The Red Sox continued to prove themselves to be the class of the East Division with a pair of series wins over familiar foes the past seven days. Boston bookended the week with losses but in between pulled off four wins—two each against Toronto and Tampa Bay.

Aside from a rough Monday (Who doesn’t have those, right?), Boston’s pitching staff enjoyed a stellar week. The team gave up a total of 20 runs during the week with exactly half of those coming in a 10-4 loss to Toronto on Monday. The rest was spread out over the final five games—with their opposition scoring just six combined runs in the Red Sox’s four victories.

Boston had a tough schedule to close out August but has started to take advantage of a soft September slate. A trio of games against the Yankees to start the month and another three against the Astros to close it (plus one more with Houston on Oct. 1) are really the only truly challenging games the team was to have this month.

Every other team they play is currently under .500, three of those teams—Oakland, Cincinnati and Toronto—are well under the mark. The Rays and Orioles are within touching distance of being even on the season, and both very well could be at or above .500 when they host Boston. That alone wouldn’t suddenly make it a difficult stretch for the Red Sox.

The best thing for this team is for the Yankees to keep pushing them. Complacency is about the only thing that could cost this team a division title. Even with Houston still holding a decent lead in the race for the AL’s second playoff seed, the Red Sox would have to feel good about their chances of eventually overtaking the Astros, especially with that four-game set at home to close the season in their back pocket.

AL West leader

Houston Astros

Overall record (through Sunday): 86-57

Last week: 3-4

This week: Off Monday; at Los Angeles Angels (Tue.-Thu.); vs. Seattle Mariners (Fri.-Sun.)

It’s hard to get a good read on the Astros. Stop if you’ve heard us say that here before. One series the team looks outstanding and fully capable of challenging for the American League pennant. The next it looks completely lost with the pitching in utter disarray.

But what else is new?

Since we’ve been doing these updates, Houston has been arguably the most erratic team. If we had done these updates thought the season, the Astros would have had all the superlatives dropped on them throughout the first half of the season. Since then, it’s been anyone’s guess which team will show up.

Kansas City Royals

The most disturbing trend is how the team seems to let the first game dictate how a series goes. You have to go back to the beginning of July to find the last instance of the Astros losing the first game of a series and coming back to win it. That’s probably hard to even wrap your head around.

Since overcoming a June 30 loss to the Yankees with wins on July 1 and 2, the Astros have lost a series-opener on eight occasions and either lost or split all of those series.

The opposite has generally held true, as well. During the same time span, Houston has opened a series with a win 11 times. The Astros have either won or split in nine of those series.

July deadline failure took the blame for an August swoon, but bold moves at the end of August appeared to have righted the ship. At least until this past weekend.

The Astros opened September with consecutive sweeps of the Mets and Mariners. But following a day off Thursday, Houston got drilled in four straight games by lowly Oakland. The team seemed to let a tough 9-8 loss on Friday carry over into the rest of the weekend, losing both games of a Saturday doubleheader and Sunday’s finale by a combined 32-7 margin.

Which Houston will we see this week? Probably both, and we’ll assess what it means in this same spot next week.

AL Central leader

Cleveland

Overall record (through Sunday): 87-56

Last week: 7-0

This week: Vs. Detroit Tigers (Mon.-Wed.); vs. Kansas City Royals (Thu.-Sun.)

To think just a few weeks ago, some people thought the Kansas City Royals or Minnesota would actually challenge Cleveland for the Central Division title. Now, the defending American League champion looks well on its way to returning to the World Series.

As you may have noticed, Cleveland now claims the final slide of our postseason update thanks to sitting atop the overall standings. With their Sunday night win over Baltimore, the team passed Houston for the top seed in the AL.

The victory gave Cleveland its 18th consecutive win. You have to go all the way back to Aug. 23 to find the last time this team lost. On that date, they lost to Boston—the third loss in four days for Cleveland.

However, a victory over the Red Sox the following day has been followed by sweeps of the Kansas City Royals, Yankees, Tigers, White Sox and Orioles. The most incredible thing about the streak has been the dominant fashion in which it has occurred. Consider this, Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Baltimore is just the fifth win of the streak to come by two or fewer runs.

Cleveland has also pulled off this winning run despite very little rest. Twice during the streak the team has had to play doubleheaders. With just Aug. 31 as a scheduled day off during the stretch, the team has pulled off 18 total wins in 18 total days. The team still has seven games this week before finally getting another day off next Monday.

Next: How the Standings Have Changed

Those looking to end the streak this week—the Tigers and Kansas City Royals—can only hope the fatigue catches up with Cleveland. Otherwise, we could have another 7-0 week for Cleveland in our next update.