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You know, I’m old enough to remember when baseball teams didn’t post their lineups on Twitter. Instead, we got tweets from the beat writers or, if we were lucky, a pic of the lineup card itself. Nowadays, the teams know how much people want to see the lineups ahead of time, and they Tweet it with wonderfully-designed backgrounds that incorporate into the team colors.
I also remember when Twitter didn’t exist and you just had to wonder who was playing before you got there. But that makes me feel old, and let’s not do that quite yet.
What is old, if we’re being honest, is Danny Duffy’s Royals career. Duffy debuted in 2011, a full decade ago, and has been through many, many ups and downs. But this year, he’s in search of one thing he hasn’t accomplished: to be named an All-Star. This might just be the year for it, with a Royals team that is ascendant. Tonight, Duffy looks to continue his excellent start to the season against the Tampa Bay Rays, a team he once dominated so thoroughly in a 16-strikeout extravaganza in 2016 that it must be brought up every time he pitches against them.
Meanwhile, the Rays trot out a lineup of baseball dudes most people haven’t heard of before despite being the reigning American League champs. Weird team.
Rays lineup
.@JoshRFleming takes the hill, in his home state, for the first time in his young career pic.twitter.com/LNFewIvk37
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) April 19, 2021
Royals lineup
New series, same goal.#TogetherRoyal pic.twitter.com/XHYRku76sD
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) April 19, 2021
What’s weirder: the Royals playing 14 games and not losing a series, or that the Royals have won nine of them? Can they continue their winning streak today? We’ll find out.