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The Kansas City Royals head to Cleveland to face the Cuyahoga club that simply refuses to part with its racially insensitive caricature of a mascot. That club is in first place in the American League Central and looks to be cruising to its second consecutive division title after spending the first couple months of the season playing well below expectations.
The Cleveland nine owns a six-game lead over the third-place Royals with the Minnesota Twins just half a game better than the Royals.
Game times and pitching matchups will look like this:
- Friday, August 25, 6:10 PM CDT - Jason Vargas (L) versus
StephinRyan Merritt (L) - Saturday, August 26, 6:15 PM CDT - Jason Hammel versus Mike Clevinger
- Sunday, August 27, 12:10 PM CDT - Danny Duffy (L) versus Carlos Carrasco
Royals at Cleveland pitching matchups
| Pitcher | G | IP | K | K% | BB | BB% | ERA | FIP | xFIP | SIERA | fWAR | rWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | G | IP | K | K% | BB | BB% | ERA | FIP | xFIP | SIERA | fWAR | rWAR |
| Jason Vargas (L) | 24 | 140.1 | 109 | 18.5 | 42 | 7.1 | 3.59 | 4.23 | 4.78 | 4.70 | 2.0 | 3.7 |
| Ryan Merritt (L) | 3 | 8.2 | 3 | 7.5 | 1 | 2.5 | 3.12 | 2.78 | 4.03 | 4.50 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| Jason Hammel | 25 | 142.2 | 112 | 18.0 | 40 | 6.4 | 4.73 | 4.30 | 5.00 | 4.71 | 1.9 | 1.8 |
| Mike Clevinger | 19 | 88.1 | 99 | 26.9 | 48 | 12.9 | 3.97 | 4.53 | 4.29 | 4.45 | 1.0 | 1.6 |
| Danny Duffy (L) | 25 | 131.0 | 116 | 21.4 | 36 | 6.6 | 3.78 | 3.47 | 4.44 | 4.31 | 3.1 | 3.0 |
| Carlos Carrasco | 25 | 150.1 | 167 | 27.5 | 40 | 6.6 | 3.95 | 3.53 | 3.50 | 3.54 | 3.3 | 3.2 |
Ryan Merritt is probably the same person as Stephin Merritt. Here’s some of his work:
Mike Clevinger walks a bunch of dudes. That probably won’t mean much against the Royals. Carlos Carrasco is still good at throwing baseballs.
Cleveland position players
| Player | Pos | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR | rWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Pos | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR | rWAR |
| Jose Ramírez (S) | 2B/3B | 519 | 18 | 81 | 59 | 13 | .299 | .355 | .518 | .365 | 127 | 4.0 | 4.4 |
| Francisco Lindor (S) | SS | 563 | 22 | 69 | 61 | 9 | .266 | .323 | .469 | .334 | 106 | 3.6 | 5.8 |
| Carlos Santana (S) | 1B | 518 | 18 | 74 | 64 | 5 | .250 | .355 | .446 | .342 | 112 | 1.8 | 1.4 |
| Lonnie Chisenhall | DL* | 216 | 12 | 29 | 51 | 2 | .305 | .376 | .578 | .395 | 148 | 0.2 | 1.1 |
| Bradley Zimmer (L) | CF | 291 | 8 | 35 | 38 | 15 | .246 | .316 | .392 | .307 | 87 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | DH | 531 | 29 | 74 | 74 | 2 | .249 | .374 | .486 | .366 | 128 | 1.5 | 1.7 |
| Yan Gomes | C | 312 | 8 | 30 | 40 | 0 | .216 | .305 | .355 | .291 | 77 | 0.9 | 0.3 |
| Austin Jackson | LF | 211 | 5 | 23 | 26 | 1 | .315 | .384 | .495 | .372 | 132 | 0.9 | -0.2 |
| Jay Bruce (L) | RF | 61 | 4 | 14 | 13 | 1 | .345 | .410 | .655 | .443 | 180 | 0.9 | -0.1 |
| Erik González | 2B | 83 | 2 | 11 | 6 | 1 | .259 | .268 | .395 | .281 | 70 | 0.1 | -1.6 |
| Brandon Guyer | OF | 156 | 2 | 19 | 17 | 2 | .226 | .325 | .331 | .295 | 79 | 0.1 | |
| Roberto Pérez | C | 179 | 2 | 15 | 24 | 0 | .195 | .286 | .292 | .260 | 55 | -0.1 | |
| Giovanny Urshela | IF | 94 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 0 | .205 | .247 | .227 | .215 | 24 | -0.5 |
As a club, Cleveland has slashed .258/.354/.435 with a .329 wOBA and 102 wRC+. That wRC+ is good for fourth-best in baseball. By BaseRuns, they’re the 20th-best club, so they aren’t particularly good at punishing opposing pitchers once they get on base. They’ve also got just the 22nd-best defense in the game per FanGraphs’ defensive WAR component (the Royals are 17th), though DRS ranks their unit 10th compared to the Royals’ 18th-ranked defense per DRS.
This is like the 689th time these teams have played this year. You know them. They know them. Everyone knows each other.
Poll
How will the Royals fare in Cleveland?
This poll is closed
-
16%
Royals sweep
(21 votes) -
35%
Royals take two of three
(46 votes) -
26%
Cleveland takes two of three
(34 votes) -
21%
Cleveland sweeps
(28 votes)
All stats courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference through action on Thursday, August 24.
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