Game CXLIII Open Thread - The Royals of Kansas City versus the Tigers of Detroit

The Royals send Jason Vargas to the hump tonight in the hopes of cleansing their palatte of the wretched taste of an ugly loss--a loss so ugly, it was akin to getting a beautifully seasoned and masterfully prepared filet mignon (a meaningful Royals game with playoff implications in September) and promptly drowning it in table salt and ketchup (spotting the second-place Tigers eight runs thanks to sloppy defense and then swinging early and often to "hit" their way out of a six-run deficit).

The crafty lefty has been buoyed by the Royals defense, obviously, but his 3.14 ERA, 3.64 FIP, and fly-ball tendencies have worked well for Vargas and the Royals thus far, to which his 2.8 fWAR and 3.6 rWAR in 169.0 IP serve as testament.

Max Scherzer, while not nearly as dominant as he was last year, has still been Detroit's arguable ace. He sports a 3.25 ERA but his 2.83 FIP illuminates a story in which the woeful Tigers defense has undermined Scherzer's work to a degree. Scherzer's been worth 5.0 fWAR and 5.2 rWAR in 193.2 IP.

This might actually be a pitcher's duel.

We all know this game will be a WAR!