The Kansas City Royals head into a very crucial three-game series this weekend against the Detroit Tigers, who lead them by 8 1/2 games in the American League Central. The Royals best hope of making it back to the postseason is through a Wild Card berth. They are only three games behind the Seattle Mariners for the third and final spot. There is work to do, but the Royals aren’t out of the picture just yet.
They won 86 games last year and were the second AL Wild Card team, knocking out the Baltimore Orioles in the first round before losing the ALDS to the eventual AL champion New York Yankees. Their road is not going to be easy, but there is still hope for them to reach the postseason.
Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently made bold predictions for each division in Major League Baseball, and for the AL Central, it was that the Royals would still sneak into the postseason.
“Seattle, currently holding the AL’s No. 6 seed, is three games ahead of the Royals. The Yankees and Astros are each 4.5 games ahead, and the Red Sox are five ahead. Historically, at least one of these leading teams often collapses in September,” Miller wrote.
“What had been the lowest-scoring offense at the end of June (3.28 runs per game) has been a completely different animal since (4.98 runs per game)—and that could get even better if wunderkind Caglianone starts living up to the hype.
What the Royals really need, though, is for Seth Lugo to lock back in.”
Miller believes that Lugo regaining his old form is the key for the Royals to sneaking into the playoffs, as well as Cole Ragans coming back from the injured list and returning to his old form. If that can happen, the Royals will be in good shape.
This upcoming series with the Tigers is crucial, even though they are not in the hunt for an AL Central title. It represents an opportunity for them to gain ground in the Wild Card race and potentially even control their own destiny at a certain point.
It will certainly be interesting to see if the Royals can take advantage of this opportunity. They have played much better in the second half and have created a chance for themselves.
More MLB: Royals’ Next Roster Move Is Extremely Obvious Thanks To Jac Caglianone
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