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The Kansas City Royals head to Guaranteed Rate Field to face the slightly less lowly Chicago White Socks. The South Side nine have been pretty bad, but they have a 7.5 game lead on the Royals, so things could have gone worse.
Game times and pitching matchups are as follows:
- Friday, August 17 — 7:10 PM CDT — Jake Junis versus James Shields
- Saturday, August 18 — 6:10 PM CDT — Brad Keller versus Dylan Covey
- Sunday, August 19 — 1:10 PM — Heath Fillmyer versus Reynaldo López
All stats courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference
Royals at White Socks 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 |
| Game 1 | ||||||||||||
| Jake Junis | 22 | 127.0 | 122 | 22.1 | 37 | 6.7 | 4.82 | 5.06 | 4.30 | 4.04 | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| James Shields | 26 | 157.0 | 122 | 18.2 | 60 | 9.0 | 4.41 | 4.75 | 5.02 | 4.87 | 1.2 | 0.7 |
| Game 2 | ||||||||||||
| Brad Keller | 34 | 95.1 | 62 | 15.7 | 40 | 10.1 | 3.40 | 3.73 | 4.44 | 4.77 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
| Dylan Covey | 16 | 81.2 | 59 | 15.7 | 36 | 9.6 | 6.06 | 4.54 | 4.56 | 4.78 | 0.7 | -1.1 |
| Game 3 | ||||||||||||
| Heath Fillmyer | 10 | 42.1 | 24 | 13.5 | 22 | 12.4 | 3.61 | 4.95 | 5.20 | 5.52 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Reynaldo López | 24 | 141.0 | 98 | 16.1 | 60 | 9.9 | 4.40 | 5.08 | 5.64 | 5.32 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
James Shields is less bad than he’s been the last couple years. Dylan Covey seems to have caught whatever James Shields had. The Pail Hose are still waiting for Reynaldo López to realize his potential.
Chicago Pale Hoes position players
| Name | Pos | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR | rWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Pos | PA | HR | R | RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG | wOBA | wRC+ | fWAR | rWAR |
| Tim Anderson | SS | 457 | 15 | 60 | 48 | 22 | .242 | .287 | .401 | .296 | 86 | 1.5 | 1.6 |
| Omar Narváez (L) | C | 224 | 5 | 21 | 21 | 0 | .282 | .369 | .431 | .349 | 122 | 1.5 | 1.1 |
| José Abreu | 1B | 508 | 21 | 64 | 73 | 1 | .268 | .327 | .484 | .341 | 117 | 1.1 | 1.6 |
| Yoán Moncada (S) | 2B | 489 | 15 | 56 | 46 | 11 | .219 | .301 | .394 | .302 | 90 | 1.0 | 1.4 |
| Yolmer Sanchez (S) | 3B | 489 | 7 | 43 | 45 | 10 | .247 | .301 | .388 | .299 | 88 | 1.0 | 2.1 |
| Matt Davidson | 3B/1B | 348 | 17 | 39 | 44 | 0 | .227 | .330 | .455 | .340 | 116 | 0.9 | 1.2 |
| Kevan Smith | C | 122 | 0 | 13 | 12 | 1 | .283 | .328 | .310 | .286 | 79 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Daniel Palka (L) | DH/OF | 307 | 18 | 38 | 49 | 2 | .238 | .280 | .483 | .321 | 103 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Avisaíl García | RF | 245 | 13 | 29 | 27 | 1 | .239 | .269 | .461 | .308 | 94 | 0.0 | 0.1 |
| Adam Engel | CF | 334 | 4 | 37 | 24 | 12 | .221 | .268 | .326 | .261 | 62 | -0.1 | 0.7 |
| Nick Delmonico (L) | LF | 206 | 3 | 19 | 11 | 1 | .221 | .316 | .354 | .298 | 87 | -0.1 | -0.3 |
The position players on the South Side have been worth 6.5 fWAR thus far this season. That’s 0.3 more than the Royals, so one could reasonably read that to mean that they also haven’t been good. They’ve slashed .241/.300/.405 with a .304 wOBA and 92 wRC+. This was all made possible by middling production from a roster full of mostly middling players with a sprinkling of talented players not yet living up to their potential—*cough* Yoán Moncada *cough*.
Poll
How will the Royals fare on the South Side?
This poll is closed
-
8%
Royals sweep
(11 votes) -
32%
Royals take two of three
(40 votes) -
31%
Pail Hose take two of three
(39 votes) -
7%
Pale Hoes sweep
(9 votes) -
20%
Gamboa
(25 votes)