Game one hundred and sixty two: Kansas City Royals at Cleveland Guardians

This is it. The last game of the season. Kansas City started the season against Cleveland and will now finish the season against Cleveland. The Royals will get one last chance to pad their 2022 numbers, while the Guardians get one last chance to tune up for the postseason. I’d suggest watching or listening to this game. Yeah, Kansas City will probably lose, but this will be your last chance to follow along with a Royals game that counts for anything for the next 176 days.

Jonathon Heasley goes for the Royals. He’s been bad this year. He’ll be opposed by Aaron Civale. He’s been more unlucky than bad. The Royals are running out an exceptionally young lineup today. Edward Olivares is the elder statesman. He was born on March 6, 1996. The Guardians are also running out a young lineup, with Luke Maile and José Ramírez the only players older than 27.

It feels like it was just a couple weeks ago that that I was getting excited to see Zack Greinke pitch for the Royals again and for Bobby Witt Jr. to make his debut. We were still in that period of midwest spring where the weather just can’t decide what it wants to do yet. The game time temperature on opening day in Kansas City was 47 degrees. It felt even colder with the wind and lack of sun.

Now here we are, a full six months later. Summer has come and gone. I spent a lot of time outside this summer. Now that the weather has started to cool down, I still don’t feel like I truly enjoyed and appreciated it enough. Soon, autumn will give way to winter, which brings with it icy roads and sidewalks, freezing temperatures exacerbated by the howling wind, and approximately 47 minutes of sunlight per day.

Win or lose, I will enjoy this game. For at least one more day, I can pretend like it’s still summer before my seasonal depression kicks in.

First pitch: 3:10 pm CDT

Royals lineup

Guardians lineup