Good morning, Royals fans!
Welcome back to another edition of Thursday Matinee Baseball featuring the Royals, this time against the New York Metropolitans, and with the series on the line. If the Royals win, that will be their [counts fingers] second consecutive series won.
Anyway, I’m rather tired today. Did anyone else’s home get bombarded by storms last night? My wife woke me up at 4 a.m. because we had left out some towels and swim gear on the deck to dry. Whoops. Not so dry when I ventured out to get them. And the rain was dang cold, too. Very unexpected. I have been awake since.
Will the Royals offense spark, helping me stay awake? Or will it be more like yesterday’s outing and unhelpfully lull me back to sleep? Let’s find out together, friends.
Michael Wacha back on the mound today. Read a Ken Rosenthal piece this morning over at The Athletic in which he wrote about the Royals potentially trading Wacha and/or Seth Lugo. Bottom line: he doesn’t see it happening mainly because the Royals’ asking price is going to be too high. He also points to Wacha’s underlying numbers, which aren’t as good as his overlying ones.
Another thing to consider: if the Royals trade either Wacha or Lugo, well, if you think their pitching depth in 2026 is thin (which it is), it would be considerably thinner in 2027. Additionally, it may not be a good look for the team to trade away its prized free-agency additions when it comes to signing other free agents.
The Royals will face former farmhand Sean Manaea, a lefty, which is why Lane Thomas is leading off. Bobby Witt Jr. is in there at his normal spot, batting second and playing short. Salvador Perez moves up to the third spot. Sure, why not. In 18 career at-bats versus Manaea, Salvy’s OPS is over 1.200 with three homers and six RBIs. After two more right-handed hitters, the newest Home Run Derby participant, Jac Caglianone, comes up, followed by Isaac Collins, Tyler Tolbert, and catcher Luke Maile. No Carter Jensen today.
Few of these Mets have faced Wacha much. Of those starting today, only Bo Bichette has faced Wacha at least 10 times. In 16 at-bats, he’s slugging 1.162 against Wacha with a homer while driving in five runs. Jorge Polanco has faced Wacha a dozen times, but as you’ll note, he begins today on the bench. A.J. Ewing, who went 2-for-5 last night with a leadoff home run, once again leads off. Second baseman Bret Baty, who broke things open yesterday with a two-run single in the bottom of the eighth, remains in the eighth spot, ahead of only the Mets’ catcher, who today happens to be Luis Torrens.
Game starts at 12:10 p.m. local time.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.royalsreview.com ’
