[Baltimore Sun] 5 things to know about the Kansas City Royals, the Orioles’ AL wild-card series opponent
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MINNEAPOLIS — The Orioles have known for a couple of days that they would have home-field advantage in the American League wild-card series. Now, they know who’s coming to town.
The No. 4-seeded Orioles will host the Royals in the best-of-three series beginning Tuesday after Kansas City secured the No. 5 seed Sunday evening. Games times have yet to be determined.
It appeared for much of the past week that the Orioles (91-71) would face the red-hot Detroit Tigers in the AL wild-card series. But after clinching a playoff berth Friday to cap off their magical second-half surge, the Tigers lost two straight to the lowly Chicago White Sox this weekend to end the season tied with Kansas City. The Royals (86-76) have the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Tigers to earn the No. 5 seed.
“Every team’s going to be really good this time of year. It doesn’t matter who we play,” Orioles first baseman Ryan O’Hearn said. “We’ve got to be us. That’s what matters.”
It won’t be difficult to remember what a postseason series between the two teams will feel like. In 2014, the Orioles were swept by the Royals in the AL Division Series — the start of Baltimore’s eight-game playoff losing streak.
After completing a sweep of the Twins on Sunday, the @Orioles are hitting their stride heading into their playoff opener Tuesday against the Kansas City @Royals. https://t.co/QvbdN7xEDM pic.twitter.com/oQNdBCJseh
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) September 29, 2024
The Orioles went 4-2 against the Royals this season, but all six games came in April when the clubs were vastly different than they are now. And when they play this week, the games will mean far more than they did six months ago.
Here are five things to know about the Royals ahead of their trip to Baltimore.
They have one of MLB’s best players — one selected after Adley Rutschman in the 2019 draft
Adley Rutschman was seen by many as the slam-dunk No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft. The player taken after him is off to an even better start to his career than the Orioles’ two-time All-Star catcher.
Bobby Witt Jr., whom the Royals selected second overall that year, is having an AL Most Valuable Player-caliber season — although he will likely finish second behind New York Yankees star Aaron Judge. Witt ended the regular season with a sparkling .332 batting average and a whopping .977 OPS. He joined the illustrious 30-30 list, hitting 32 home runs and stealing 31 bases.
They have an All-Star duo atop their rotation
By facing the Royals, the Orioles avoided AL Cy Young Award front-runner Tarik Skubal of the Tigers in Game 1. But Baltimore will still have to face an All-Star left-hander who is nearly as dominant.
Royals ace Cole Ragans will start opposite Orioles right-hander Corbin Burnes in Game 1 on Tuesday. Ragans, an All-Star this summer, posted a 3.14 ERA with 223 strikeouts in 186 1/3 innings. It won’t get much easier in Game 2 when the Royals trot out veteran Seth Lugo, who went 16-9 with a 3.00 ERA in his All-Star campaign.
One player remains from the 2014 ALCS
The Orioles and Royals are completely different teams than they were in 2014. They have new owners, new general managers, new managers and all new players — except for one.
Salvador Perez was a young catcher on the 2014 Royals team that shocked the Orioles and played in back-to-back World Series. Now, he’s a veteran slugger with a Hall of Fame case. The five-time Gold Glove Award winner and nine-time All-Star hit .271 with a .786 OPS this season with 27 homers and 104 RBIs.
They have three speedsters on the base paths
Several Orioles pitchers, particularly Burnes, have struggled against speedy teams. The Royals, while not among the league leaders in stolen bases, have three players who can swipe them at ease.
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Maikel Garcia, Dairon Blanco and Witt each stole more than 30 bases this season. If Burnes isn’t able to keep them off the base paths or hold them, it could give Kansas City an advantage.
They had an Orioles-esque turnaround
The last time the Royals made the postseason was in 2015, when they won the World Series. Since, they’ve been one of the worst teams in the major leagues.
Last year, it appeared Kansas City was in the beginning stages of a painful rebuild — one like Baltimore experienced from 2018 to 2022. But the Royals were among baseball’s biggest spenders in the offseason, and those moves, combined with the growth of their young core, provided one of the best turnarounds in baseball history. After going 56-106 last year, the Royals won 30 more games in 2024.
This article will be updated.
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