Postseason baseball is coming to Kansas City!
Bobby Witt Jr. has led the Royals to the ALDS:
That set up Witt’s sixth-inning moment. Kyle Isbel singled with one out in the sixth, and Massey followed with two outs as the Royals lineup turned over. Once again, the Orioles faced a decision of whether to pitch to Witt with a man on third and a base open.
Once again, they elected to challenge the 24-year-old, although this time they made a pitching change beforehand. Witt smoked a sinker against Yennier Cano up the middle. It took 4.14 seconds for Witt to race down the line, not enough time for Jordan Westburg’s diving stop and throw behind second base.
The pitching came up big to shut down Baltimore’s offense ($):
On Wednesday, five different relievers combined to pitch 4 2/3 scoreless innings, including closer Lucas Erceg, who notched his second save of the series.
“We all knew the kind of guys we had out there,” said reliever John Schreiber, who recorded three outs. “The stuff we’ve had. The arsenals that everybody has. It’s just amazing to see everybody click all at once.”
The defense also played a huge role:
In the third inning, Royals outfielder MJ Melendez ran down a line drive on the warning track. The liner was tailing away from his defensive position, but he found a way to corral the baseball before hitting the outfield wall. Melendez’s catch had a 5% catch probability. Additionally, the line drive would’ve been a home run in 27 of 30 MLB ballparks, per Baseball Savant. An inning later, Massey saved a potential run from scoring. He made a diving catch to rob former Royal Ryan O’Hearn of a run-scoring single. Massey ranged to left and snared a line drive with full extension. He gathered himself and threw a strike to first baseman Yuli Gurriel to record the second out of the inning.
Rustin Dodd revisits the trade that brought in Cole Ragans ($):
That the Royals even had Chapman in the first place was a harbinger of a revamped front office. Chapman had suffered through a turbulent and ineffective last season in New York in 2022. But the recommendation to sign him had come from Royals assistant general manager Rene Francisco, who had witnessed Chapman working out in Miami.
“Trust me on this,” he told Picollo.
Interesting post from CBS Sports’s R.J. Anderson:
Have had sources predict teams will try mimicking the Royals’ approach to pitching: broad arsenals that cover the movement spectrum, the interplay atoning for so-so individual pitch quality. (Think Lugo, Wacha, Lorenzen.) Counters the league’s current fondness for streamlined, top-heavy arsenals.
— R.J. Anderson (@rjanderson.bsky.social) 2024-10-02T16:42:30.611Z
It’s interesting that he notes Lugo and Wacha here — both guys pitched for San Diego last year, where Michael King is currently enjoying a ton of success using a similar approach. Regardless, could the Royals actually be ahead of the curve on something?
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