Sunday baseball game thread III – Guardians at Royals

The Royals go for their first series victory of the season

The Royals attempted and failed a comeback Thursday afternoon, then tried again yesterday and managed to finish it off. Perhaps today, they can just win without ever trailing!

Of course, if they’re going to do that, it’s probably going to take a pretty good game from Michael Wacha. Wacha finished last season with a 2.72 ERA in his last 22 starts after adding a slider to his repertoire. Primed to opt out during the offseason, the Royals instead offered him a three-year contract extension at prices that seemed a bit high to some Royals fans, but which turned out to seem a bargain by the time the offseason was done. His spring training was a bit fraught with a 7.64 ERA in 17.2 innings pitched, but he also struck out 26 while only walking six. So ya know. Maybe Spring Training numbers are weird!

Tanner Bibee, after missing his Opening Day appointment due to Spring Training, will make his season debut today, instead. No word on whether he had his usual Chipotle on Saturday, though he insists he got sick before having a chance to eat any Wednesday. Bibee was the Guardians’ ace last year, after Shane Bieber missed the season with an arm injury. Bibee was far and away the best starter the Guardians had, but he also finished the season with the same fWAR as Wacha, a slightly higher ERA, and a somewhat lower FIP. He made four starts against KC last year, and his team won three of them. One of those wins was the start of the awful Royals losing streak at the beginning of September when Wacha was forced to pitch too deep into the game because of a lack of available bullpen arms. That shouldn’t be an issue, today.

Lineups

While this game got a bit harder to win than it might have seemed in the series preview due to Bibee getting this start, it’s also easier because superstar José Ramírez will miss the game after injuring his arm during a stolen base attempt in yesterday’s game.

Last year the Royals started 1-2 against the Twins and didn’t win their first series until they swept the White Sox the following weekend. It would seem like a nice omen for an improved season if they could go ahead and take their first series today.