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Today's date is May 17. By the end of the night, Royals starter Jason Vargas' ERA could sink below 1.00, which would be the latest date that has been true of a Royals starter since Zack Greinke took a 0.84 ERA into his May 31, 2009 start against the White Sox. He also enters tonight's start behind only Chris Sale in fWAR among starting pitchers and leads all of baseball in ERA by half of a run.
The Yankees, however, will be his most formidable opponent to date, leading the American League in runs, home runs, ISO, SLG% and leading all of baseball in wRC+.
Alex Gordon has been shifted to the 9th spot tonight:
Jason Vargas looks to stay hot vs the Yankees. #Royals #RaisedRoyal pic.twitter.com/Sigtkx7rqh
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) May 17, 2017
Meanwhile, the Yankees lineup is pretty darn good right now:
Pineda on the mound. Gardy leading off. Here's how we're lining up vs. Kansas CIty tonighthttps://t.co/UKHqoMp1jQ pic.twitter.com/9ckjmbXUR1
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 17, 2017
Fire away.