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After last night's heroics, the Royals lay claim to first place in the AL Central, the best record in the AL, and the third best record in baseball behind those wretched Cardinals and Dodgers. The Royals also lead the AL in position player fWAR and are second only to the Dodgers in position player fWAR (non-pitchers). As well as the Royals have hit so far, the Dodgers have out-hit them by a significant margin. The Dodgers decided that every hitter should be extra good at hitting, and about 90% of their players have obliged.
The Royals do not face the Dodgers tonight. They face the Rangers, a team whose offense ranks near the bottom in production. Unfortunately, the Royals rotation doesn't feel like run prevention is part of their job descriptions anymore. Tonight, hopefully Yordano Ventura fulfills our hopes and dreams and throws a complete game shutout under 100 pitches with double-digit strikeouts and no walks. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but baseball is a game that can crush hopes and dreams. I'd be happy with 7 innings of under-3 run ball from Ventura.
Lineup:
The Royals dugout looks, um, flooded.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) May 13, 2015
Er...let's try that again.
That's a good looking group of @royals fans #dressedtothenines pic.twitter.com/nhkcnZzSYn
— Dressed to the Nines (@ToThe9sDay) May 13, 2015
Nope. Didn't get it right.
Deep Sea Station Lineup: Escobar 6, Moustakas 5, Cain 8, Hosmer 3, Morales DH, Gordon 7, Perez 2, Infante 4, Orlando 9, Ventura 1. #royals
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) May 13, 2015
There's a lineup!