Game XCII Thread: Cleveland versus the Kansas City Royals

Still in the throes of a road-fueled swoon, the Kansas City Royals come home to start a three-series, nine-game homestand. Unfortunately for the struggling World Champs, two of those series come against the two best teams in the American League. First up: the first-place Cleveland Racists baseball team whose mascot is totally being phased out.

The Royals send Edinson Volquez to the mound for his first start after the All-Star Break. Despite the rhyming nickname, Volquez has not been all that steady this season. After he reaches pitch 75 or so, it's anyone's guess as to how the game will go. The only sure bet is that no one will be ready in the pen at the first sign of real trouble.

That Cleveland team who stands in first place sends Corey Kluber to the rubber. Though it doesn't appear as though he is cruising toward a Cy Young Award at this time, he is still very good and capable of completely shutting down the Royals.

The Royals trail Cleveland by eight full games. A Royals sweep - however unlikely that may seem coming off a brutal three-game series in Detroit, or in the bigger picture their entire 2016 campaign - would trim Cleveland's lead to five games, a theoretically surmountable, manageable lead.

Cleveland will look like this:

Here's today's lineup as we begin a three-gamer in KC.

AL HR ranks since June 1:
7. Santana, 11
T8. Naquin, 10 pic.twitter.com/3lL26eQHjS

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) July 18, 2016

Kansas City will look like this:

Edinson Volquez gets the ball as the #Royals open series against the Indians: https://t.co/gEAJg8NO5K #ForeverRoyal pic.twitter.com/QVIZpXSpRn

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) July 18, 2016

This game will be a fWAR!