Game 55 Thread: Twins vs. Royals

Generally, I like to write an introduction before posting the lineup, so ya’ll readers can have some context for the game before watching it.

But today the lineup sort of is the context, because the Kansas City Royals are terrible and everything is terrible.

Well, not everything is terrible. Brad Keller is making his first Major League start, only doing so because the Royals plucked him from the San Diego Padres and because the pitching staff as a whole is complete dogshit thin and a bit dinged up at the moment.

But, ah, you see Mr. Escobar hitting second? The one and only Alcides? Granted, he walked off last game with a giant home run in the 14th inning, which is nice but irrelevant. Escobar was the 2015 American League Championship MVP, which is also nice but also irrelevant.

What is not nice and terrifyingly relevant is that Escobar is the worst hitter in baseball. No; seriously. In the last five years, the number of MLB players with at least 1500 plate appearances and who have hit worse than Escobar is the same exact number as the total number of terms Eric Greitens will complete as governor of Missouri.

And Escobar is hitting second, which is bad enough, but what’s even worse (somehow) is that that’s not even the worst option. Ryan Goins has a career wRC+ lower than Escobar’s worse four years. In 93 plate appearances this year, Abraham Almonte has a wRC+ below 60, which is quite impressive.

Anyway, the Royals are going to score zero runs or 400,000,000 tonight, give or take some. That’s what I’m getting at.

There’s the Minnesota Twins lineup. Whoooooooo boy. Baseball!