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The Royals are not good. The Blue Jays are even more not good.
Game times and pitching matchups are as follows:
- Tuesday, September 19, 2017, 6:07 PM CDT - Ian Kennedy versus Marcus Stroman
- Wednesday, September 20, 2017, 6:07 PM CDT - Jake Junis versus Brett Anderson (L)
- Thursday, September 21, 2017, 6:07 PM CDT - Jason Vargas (L) versus J.A. Happ (L)
Royals at Blue Jays 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 |
| Ian Kennedy | 27 | 138.2 | 115 | 19.4 | 58 | 9.8 | 5.45 | 5.67 | 5.36 | 5.00 | -0.3 | 0.4 |
| Marcus Stroman | 30 | 184.1 | 155 | 20.2 | 55 | 7.2 | 3.08 | 3.81 | 3.53 | 3.79 | 3.3 | 5.3 |
| Jake Junis | 17 | 80.1 | 68 | 19.7 | 20 | 5.8 | 4.15 | 4.45 | 4.69 | 4.39 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| Brett Anderson (L) | 4 | 22.0 | 15 | 17.1 | 4 | 4.6 | 3.27 | 4.11 | 3.80 | 4.32 | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| Jason Vargas (L) | 29 | 163.1 | 120 | 17.4 | 50 | 7.2 | 4.19 | 4.69 | 5.00 | 4.88 | 1.5 | 3.4 |
| J.A. Happ (L) | 23 | 131.2 | 127 | 22.1 | 44 | 7.7 | 3.76 | 4.01 | 4.08 | 4.23 | 2.2 | 3.0 |
It’s hard to like the matchups for the Royals in Games One and Three of this series. Ned Yost, in his infinite wisdom is trotting dong-prone Ian Kennedy out in SkyDome. It’s hard to see how he fares well when matched up against Marcus Stroman, who’s back to pitching like 2015 Marcus Stroman. In Game Two, Jake Junis—who’s been solid in his rookie campaign—gets to face a Brett Anderson who was designated for assignment by the Cubs on August 4. He has shown marked improvement since coming over to Toronto, but on the year, he holds a 5.73 ERA, 4.32 FIP, 4.13 xFIP, and 4.76 SIERA in 44.1 brief innings. As for the Jason Vargas/J.A. Happ tilt, it isn’t May anymore. Does anyone go into a Jason Vargas start hoping for good things to happen at this juncture?
Toronto Blue Jays 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 |
| Josh Donaldson | 3B | 450 | 30 | 59 | 71 | 2 | .268 | .391 | .558 | .399 | 150 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Justin Smoak (S) | 1B | 593 | 38 | 82 | 89 | 0 | .278 | .361 | .550 | .381 | 138 | 3.6 | 3.2 |
| Kevin Pillar | CF | 599 | 16 | 68 | 42 | 14 | .258 | .304 | .411 | .306 | 87 | 2.1 | 3.0 |
| Russell Martin | C | 340 | 12 | 47 | 28 | 1 | .223 | .351 | .382 | .326 | 101 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
| Ezequiel Carrera (L) | OF | 309 | 8 | 37 | 20 | 9 | .289 | .362 | .429 | .342 | 111 | 0.8 | -0.2 |
| Raffy Lopez (L) | C | 53 | 3 | 8 | 10 | 0 | .222 | .327 | .444 | .332 | 105 | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Teoscar Hernández | OF | 46 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 0 | .279 | .304 | .512 | .338 | 108 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Michael Saunders (L) | LF/RF | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .300 | .417 | .300 | .335 | 106 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| Steve Pearce | LF | 348 | 13 | 38 | 37 | 0 | .252 | .319 | .438 | .322 | 98 | 0.0 | -0.1 |
| Richard Ureña (S) | IF | 60 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 1 | .222 | .288 | .333 | .274 | 65 | 0.0 | -0.2 |
| José Bautista | RF | 640 | 22 | 87 | 60 | 6 | .207 | .314 | .375 | .301 | 83 | -0.1 | -1.6 |
| Rob Refsnyder | 2B | 48 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | .195 | .298 | .220 | .236 | 39 | -0.3 | -0.1 |
| Luke Maile | C | 129 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 1 | .138 | .171 | .220 | .171 | -5 | -0.7 | -0.2 |
| Miguel Montero | C | 92 | 2 | 11 | 8 | 0 | .138 | .239 | .250 | .224 | 31 | -0.7 | -0.7 |
| Kendrys Morales (S) | DH | 574 | 27 | 65 | 80 | 0 | .249 | .305 | .450 | .319 | 96 | -0.7 | -0.3 |
| Ryan Goins | SS | 424 | 7 | 30 | 54 | 3 | .226 | .279 | .335 | .268 | 61 | -0.7 | -0.6 |
| Darwin Barney | 2B | 327 | 4 | 30 | 20 | 7 | .233 | .269 | .317 | .256 | 53 | -0.8 | -0.9 |
There have been A LOT of sub-par performances on the season for these Blue Jays. There are so many sub-replacement-level players on the year that the bottom of the roster could easily be confused for a mid-2000s Royals club. Really, only Josh Donaldson, Justin Smoak, and defense-first Kevin Pillar have been average or better. These are not the Blue Jays of two years ago. Of course, neither are the Royals.
Poll
How will the Royals fare in Toronto?
This poll is closed
-
21%
Royals sweep
(15 votes) -
32%
Royals take two of three
(23 votes) -
32%
Blue Jays take two of three
(23 votes) -
12%
Blue Jays sweep
(9 votes)
All stats courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference through action on Tuesday, September 12.
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