After surviving that crazy exciting AL Wild Card game, the Royals earned themselves the privilege of taking on the team with the best record in baseball and the best player in the universe in the ALDS.
For Kansas City, they are pretty much playing with house money after advancing to the postseason for the first time in 29 years and then winning that memorable game. They’ve got nothing to lose, but they are going up against an Angels team that has literally spent hundreds of millions of dollars in pursuit of that elusive World Series championship.
It may not be able to recapture the excitement, but this series promises to be a very unique matchup. Here are five things to watch in the Angels-Royals ALDS series:
Mike Trout in the postseason for the first time
OK, this isn’t necessarily a key to the series, but it merits watching. Mike Trout is the best player on the planet and he’s finally getting to play in the postseason for the first time in his brief but spectacular career. That’s just special.
It is also the perfect showcase for him to demonstrate to a national audience just how incredible he is. If Trout starts doing Trout things, throws the Halos on his back and carries them through this series and beyond, it will only add to his young legend.
Or it could be the perfect opportunity for him to crumble under the pressure in his first actual taste of meaningful baseball. Given his superhuman talent, that latter scenario seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Let’s not forget the negative reputations other “best player in baseball types” like Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds got saddled with at times after underwhelming postseason performances.
Will the Royals get #YOSTED?
In the Wild Card game, the #YOSTED phenomenon took on a life of its own. All the bunting, the questionable bullpen usage and even the stolen bases were the topic of much debate and vitriol after the game. In-game tactics have been an issue for Yost for some time, but now that they are in the national spotlight, people aren’t going to be able to help but watch and watch with a hair trigger on their outrage. It is one thing to worry that Yost might, well, Yost the Royals into a loss or two, now the Royals have to worry that all the excessive attention on Yost might become a distraction.
What the hell is going on with Josh Hamilton?
As far as we know, Josh Hamilton is going to be in the lineup for the ALDS. What we don’t know is how productive he’ll be. He’s missed 21 if the last 22 games with unspecified pain and tightness in his shoulder and abdomen stemming from… well, we don’t know that either. He’s had a dozen pain-killing injections (that’s not an exaggeration) and only took live BP for the first time on Tuesday, but he insists he’s going to play. Even when he’s healthy though, Hamilton’s performance has been wildly erratic, fluctuating between a guy who looks totally lost at the plate and a guy with MVP-caliber talent. He’s could be a huge X-factor in this series, but who knows if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Can the Royals’ run prevention hold down the Angels’ juggernaut offense?
It’s the unstoppable force against the immovable object. The Angels scored more runs than any other team in baseball and all ten players on their roster with over 250 plate appearances had a wRC+ of 100 or better. This isn’t an offense that just rides around on the broad shoulders of Mike Trout, they can all produce.
The Royals, however, are a top-notch run prevention club. Their bullpen is lights out and their rotation is strong, resulting in the Royals posting the fifth-best ERA- in the Majors. But what makes their pitching even better is their elite defense. They have excellent fielders all over the diamond and don’t make the mistakes. That can pose a problem for a Mike Scioscia offense that has long relied on aggressive baserunning to try and force opposing defense into making errors.
Is the Angels rotation good enough?
The Angels finished the regular season with the best record in baseball, but when you look at their rotation, it is a wonder they qualified for the postseason at all. They lost their ace, Garrett Richards, to injury over a month ago but somehow managed not to miss a beat. It wasn’t from a lack of trying though.
The Cinderella story that is Matt Shoemaker is a big reason for that. He’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last two months, but he went down to an oblique injury two weeks ago and hasn’t pitched since. He is expected to start in Game 2, but he could very well be a little bit rusty or not 100% healthy or just finally remember that he was an undrafted player who never appeared on a Angels top prospect list and turn back into a pumpkin before our eyes.
He’s not even the rotation’s biggest concern though as C.J. Wilson and Hector Santiago have both had very up and down seasons. In the final month of the season, both turned in starts where they couldn’t even get out of the second inning and both were considered possibilities to get booted from the postseason rotation in during that time. That’s probably why the Angels have already announced that they are going to skip Santiago altogether and start Weaver on short rest in Game 4, if necessary.
Speaking of Weaver, he’s the closest thing to a reliable starter right now, but he’s not the same pitcher he was a few years ago. Only three non-knuckleballing qualified starting pitchers in all of MLB had a slower average fastball than Weaver, who throws 86.8 MPH. But in his final three starts, Jered suddenly started pumping his fastball in the 88-91 MPH range and looking like he did back in his prime. That’s still not blazing, but it might be all Weaver needs to be the #1 starter the Halos are looking for.
