I copy and paste: This Royals postseason — Yostseason? — is only three games old, but already it has been an incredibly wild ride. Art Stewart, in his seventh decade of professional baseball, had to go all the way back to Don Larsen’s no-hitter in the 1956 World Series for a better game than the Royals’ AL Wild Card winner on Tuesday. All they’ve done since is turn in two more playoff wins on home runs in extra innings on the road. But what’s understandably lost in all the drama and story lines is a fact you’d have been laughed at for suggesting even two months ago: The Royals are built for the playoffs. Say those seven words out loud if you have to. Maybe it’ll feel less strange that way. There are no perfect teams in baseball, and the Royals are a wonderful example of that truism. They generally lack power, most obviously, and often need to bunt and turn base paths into runways to score. But the Royals are also showing how playoff baseball can make their weaknesses blend in, and their strengths shine. Playoff games tend to be low-scoring, first of all, and only three teams in the American League won more games scoring four or fewer runs than the Royals. Playoff games accentuate good pitchers, particularly strikeout pitchers and hard throwers. The Royals have four pitchers with fastballs in the upper 90s, and their hitters are the hardest in the game to strike out. Playoff games have a tendency to emphasize the kinds of mistakes and dramatic flares that can be lost over 162 games, and the Royals are baseball’s best combination of defense and base running. For the Royals, the playoffs are becoming something like a flattering fit for a person who could stand to lose a few pounds. The way postseason games are often played is like vertical stripes for the Royals’ love-handles, and in a color that accentuates the sparkle in their eyes. In the AL Wild Card Game, they stole a record seven bases and scored nine runs with just two extra base hits. In game one of the AL Division Series, Nori Aoki — and especially Lorenzo Cain — made game-saving catches, buying enough time for Mike Moustakas to win it with a home run in the 11th. In game two, the Royals’ only run through 10 innings was unearned. Again, defense may have saved them in the eighth when Jarrod Dyson made a nice catch and strong throw to Moustakas, who made a spectacular tag on pinch runner Collin Cowgill. In the 10th, Eric Hosmer and Alcides Escobar turned a 3-6-3 double play (the hardest in the game) that would’ve been merely a fielder’s choice for most teams. The Royals’ offense has struggled virtually all year, which of course is no secret. And that’s been mostly true in the Division Series, too, with just 12 hits and seven runs in 22 innings. But the structure of the playoffs tilts to the Royals’ advantage, suppressing all offense down to their accustomed level. The Royals’ pitching has been very good all year, of course, and it’s often pointed out that their numbers (their 3.51 ERA ranked fourth in the league) are propped up by defense. There is no doubt that’s true, but what usually goes unnoticed is those numbers are inflated by innings given to virtual space fillers when games were all but decided. For instance, just take away Aaron Brooks’ 2 2/3 innings, and the Royals’ team ERA for the entire season drops eight points. The 11 pitchers on the postseason roster had a cumulative 3.02 ERA over the regular season. The Royals, then, are an offensively challenged team used to winning low-scoring games with a dominant core of pitchers, terrific defense and an ability to exploit the margins by putting balls in play and running like a track team. And the playoffs are generally low-scoring games that often shift in favor of the better pitching and are highlighted by defense and base running that can ruin or create runs. You’ve heard and read a thousand times already how the Royals haven’t been to the playoffs in 29 years. What hasn’t been said nearly as often is that now that they’re here, they’re finding it all so familiar and flattering. Read more here: kansascity/sports/spt-columns-blogs/sam-mellinger/article2512593.html#storylink=cpy
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 00:08:00 +0000
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