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Realistic or not, we are all doing something unique: scoreboard watching in September.
Texas is at Oakland with the first pitch coinciding with the publishing of this column. Yu Darvish takes on Jarrod Parker, who has re-realized his status as one of the up and coming young starters in the league. I am not sure who we should be rooting for in this one or, for that matter, if it even matters. Right now, the loser of the A.L. West looks to be a lock for the first Wild Card spot.
Baltimore take on Cleveland at 6:05 in a Zach battle (not a Zack battle, mind you), with Britton taking on McAllister. The Indian's Zach McAllister has been solid, while the Orioles Zach Britton just got recalled from AAA. Given that the Royals could theoretically take care of Cleveland on their own over the next two weeks, I think we should all be rooting for the Indians to beat Baltimore tonight.
Chicago is a New York, also with a 6:05 first pitch. Erik Johnson is making his major league debut...in Yankee Stadium...against C.C. Sabathia. For what it's worth, the White Sox have the exact same record over their last 30 games (16-14) as your Kansas City Royals. Not that you ever need a reason to root against the Yankees, but it would really, really help for Chicago to pull one out tonight.
Detroit is at Boston, again at 6:05. This is included as courtesy as the Royals are not running down the Tigers and the Rays and none of the A.L. East Wild Card contenders are going to run down the Sox. Rick Porcello and Ryan Dempster are the starters.
Finally, Tampa is at Anaheim beginning at 9:05. The pitching match-up would seem to give Royals' fans hope as the sloppy looking but sharp pitching Jered Weaver takes on Jeremy Hellickson and his 5.21 earned run average. The Angels have won 8 of their last 10 and the Rays have lost 8 of their last 10. Truthfully, Tampa would likely be my second favorite team in the AL if I actually had a 'second favorite', but tonight, I want them to lose more than anyone else.
While it has been commonplace to lament the Royals' 8-20 May, the real lament should be the seven straight losses from August 17th to August 24th. Just a 4-3 run over those seven games and Kansas City stands at 76-62. For those of you scoring at home, that would put them 1/2 game behind the Rays.
AAARGHHH!