MLB Playoffs Schedule & Predictions: Kansas City Royals Head Home Against Baltimore Orioles in ALCS
Just four teams remain for a chance to win the 2014 World Series Championship and two of them, the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles, go head-to-head Monday night.
While the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants are facing off in the National League Championship Series, Kansas City and Baltimore are still playing in the American League Championship Series
After two games, the Royals lead the ALCS 2-0. Game 3 will be played at 8:07 p.m. EST Tuesday night. Latin Post breaks down the game, teams and viewing info while predicting a winner:
Kansas City Royals
During the regular season, the Royals finished 89-73, good enough for second place in the American League Central behind the Detroit Tigers. This Royals squad qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1985.
This postseason, the Royals are 6-0 and appear to be unbeatable. In the wild card round, they defeated the Oakland Athletics in a 12-inning thriller. That playoff victory was also their first since 1985. In stunning fashion, the Royals swept the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Division Series.
The Royals currently find themselves up two games to nothing over the Orioles after winning both games on the road. In Game 1, pitcher James Shields didn't have his best game, but Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas all hit home runs to give the Royals an 8-6 victory. In game two the magic continued for the Royals. With the score tied 4-4 going into the ninth and final inning, Escobar hit a double, scoring the go ahead run.
For the Royals to win the first two games on the road are very impressive, but there is still much work to be done.
Jeremy Guthrie will start Game 3 for the Royals.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles were one of the best teams in the league this season with 96 wins, their most since 1997. The biggest reason the Orioles were so successful this season was because of the long ball. The Orioles hit the most home runs in all of baseball this season with 211, while the Royals hit the fewest with just 95.
Incredibly, during this postseason the Orioles have hit three less home runs than Royals have.
Similar to Shields, starting pitcher Chris Tillman had a rough Game 1. Tillman allowed five runs in just four innings of play, while the team fell apart in the 10th inning. The Orioles defense has been terribly disappointing these first two games thus far, allowing 14 runs. The Royals offense has also left many runs on bases in scoring position.
Wei-Yin Chen will start Game 3 for the Orioles.
Schedule
The Royals and Orioles face off on Tuesday night at 8:07 p.m. EST at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. Game 3 will be shown on TBS.
Predictions
Losing the first two games of the ALCS may be too much to recover from. All the Royals have to do is win just one of the next games at home, and they have a commanding 3-1 series lead. Despite not being a power hitting team, the Royals bats have woken up this postseason. The Royals are still the best baserunning team remaining in the playoffs as well.
Royals win series 4-2.
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