Game of the Week: April 12: SEA @ KC

[Commissioner Erick]

Seattle Mariners (6-3) @ Kansas City Royals (5-3)


SEA: Woo-Seok Ko (2-0, 1.54)
KC: Kyle Hendricks (0-1, 9.00)


Mariners 5 Key Stats:

5: Games in a row Seattle has won. They enter the contest with Kansas City as the PBA’s hottest team.

1.54: Woo-seok Ko’s ERA, fifth in the league. Ko was demoted out of the rotation last year, but the PBA leader in strikeouts in a single game has been splendid to begin 2027.

.660: Seattle’s OPS against as a staff. Ko has been terrific, but the back of the bullpen has been too. Anyela Luna and Cowboy Lorenzen have worked a combined 6.2 innings without an earned run, and Curt Gemma has 3 Saves, a 2.45 ERA, and a 0.68 WHIP.

.344: Lucius Fox’s batting average this season. Fox strained his oblique last week and will need to be replaced in the lineup.

4: Home Runs thus far for Ivan Johnson. Johnson also has more walks than strikeouts. As recently as late in 2024, Johnson was expected to be a low teens power hitter with a bad eye. Now he’s a player who can hit 25+ bombs with a terrific eye, and a terrific defender to boot.


Royals 5 Key Stats:

29: Runs scored by Kansas City, last in the AL. Kansas City averages under four runs a game, with hitters outside of Jorge Vargas combining for two home runs this year. Kansas City needs more power from its supporting cast.

9.00: Kyle Hendricks’ ERA this season. Hendricks didn’t yield a walk or homer in his first start for Kansas City against Minnesota, but he only struck out two. Minnesota tagged him for a .375 BABIP leading to four runs in 4 innings.

4: Left-hand hitters to reach against Aroldis Chapman this season. Chapman has faced eight lefties and four have reached, with two righties reaching in five at bats. If Chapman can’t rebound to be at least a left-handed specialist, the Royals will be disappointed in the $2.6 million they invested in Chapman this offseason.

1: Hit in 17 at bats for Joshua Lowe. Lowe’s off to a rough start, a reason why the Royals are last in the league in runs.

2.6: Kansas City’s Base Running Runs: Kansas City’s third in base running, which helps despite their lack of power. The team is excellent at manufacturing offense.


Questions for the GMs:

For David Boyer, Lucious Fox is out for the rest of the month. How will you change your lineup and roster to adjust?

Woo-seok Ko was demoted to the bullpen last season. This year, he took the mound opening day. What’s changed from last year to this?

Kansas City is a terrific defensive team. Does that impact your gameplan today at all?

For Daniel Kent, Jorge Vargas has a mild abdominal strain. Will he play today?

Kyle Hendricks has one of the most extreme pitching styles in the game, with regards to not walking anyone, but not striking out people either. You have a top defense, but are you concerned Hendricks’ doesn’t have a baseline of stuff to be successful as he ages?

Aroldis Chapman has really struggled thus far. How much of a leash do you give him?


TRIVIA: Which Royals pitcher has the most strikeouts in a single game?

[kcgm]

For Daniel Kent, Jorge Vargas has a mild abdominal strain. Will he play today?

No, he'll sit out the next few days until fully recovered. It's so early in the season, none of these games are vital, and he's the cornerstone of our lineup for hopefully the next decade-plus. We're disappointed he's missing the GOTW, but he'll be held out until he's 100%, which fortunately looks like it will be just 3 days.

Kyle Hendricks has one of the most extreme pitching styles in the game, with regards to not walking anyone, but not striking out people either. You have a top defense, but are you concerned Hendricks’ doesn’t have a baseline of stuff to be successful as he ages?

Not particularly, he's been solid the last few seasons with the same ratings. Hendricks also still has 6 stuff which I don't consider to be problematic. With his skillset and our defense behind him we think he can have a very successful season. He had a rough first outing, but that was on a new team with no spring training, it doesn't worry me.

Aroldis Chapman has really struggled thus far. How much of a leash do you give him?

We're only 8 games in and the sample sizes are so small; I won't make any big changes this early. Chapman has pitched 2.1 innings: we're going to err on the side of his track record until he has a larger body of work. Luckily, Chapman wasn't signed with the intention of being one of our highest leverage RPs; he isn't meant to be appearing in the most important of situations anyway.

[Commissioner Erick]

TRIVIA: Daniel correctly guessed Brent Honeywell

[Commissioner Erick]

Royals 2 - Mariners 0


WP: K. Hendricks (1-0)
LP: W. Ko (1-1)
SV: F. Aguilar (1)


Kansas City got a strong outing from Kyle Hendricks as the Royals defeated the Seattle Mariners, 2-0, at Kauffman Stadium. Hendricks, now 1-1, was the winner. In 5.1 innings, he gave up 3 hits, while striking out 2, walking 1, and allowing no runs. Earning his 1st save for Kansas City was Frank Aguilar.

The outcome was still in doubt in the top of the ninth inning. With runners on 1st and 3rd and Seattle trailing 2-0, Frank Aguilar needed to get a big out. On a 2-2 curveball, Reese McGuire, who led the AL in on-base percentage with .392 in 2022, struck out, putting the kibosh on a potential rally.

The win puts Kansas City at 6-3.


Questions for the GMs:


For David Boyer, your team went 1-7 on balls hit above 100 mph. If you face Kansas City in a big game in the future, would you try to have more power in the lineup since balls in play are likely to be turned into outs?

Your bullpen looked really good with 3.2 scoreless and just three hits allowed. How do you feel about your bullpen?

Your club stole two bases. Is base-stealing a big strategy for you?

For Daniel Kent, your offense is still struggling with just two runs, but your defense was amazing today. How do you feel about that balance right now?

More struggles for Aroldis Chapman. Frank Aguilar had to bail you out. Any change from pregame on your Chapman thoughts?

Addison Reed pitched the eighth and not the ninth. However, he did face the top three hitters in the Mariners lineup. Did you agree with the usage, or would you have rather seen Chapman in the eighth against a few Mariners lefties?


TRIVIA: Five players have 3 World Baseball Classic wins in a single postseason. Four have pitched for the Seattle Mariners in their career. Who are those four players?

[debot tigers]

Thanks Erick. Sorry I missed first questions!


For David Boyer, your team went 1-7 on balls hit above 100 mph. If you face Kansas City in a big game in the future, would you try to have more power in the lineup since balls in play are likely to be turned into outs? Well considering I have no idea where you found said stats I couldn't make an educated guess. But the rationale is there and bears looking at.....

Your bullpen looked really good with 3.2 scoreless and just three hits allowed. How do you feel about your bullpen?

I like it. It was a place of depth last year and even with losing Burns for year I feel depth is there. We picked up Silva from SF which boost it too.

Your club stole two bases. Is base-stealing a big strategy for you?

Big? It's important but not vital at expense of bad base running.

[Commissioner Erick]

I was looking at the game logs and counting the balls that went 100mph+ lol

[kcgm]

Your offense is still struggling with just two runs, but your defense was amazing today. How do you feel about that balance right now?

I have a lot of hitters slumping, and obviously I would rather the offense be producing than not. But overall, the start to the season has me optimistic, the pitching and defense are forming a very effective combination as I'd hoped. I'm not too concerned about the offense, many of these guys have long track records of good production at the plate, as of now I think it's just an unfortunate team-wide slump. I'm hopeful once the hitters start to heat up, the pitching and defense can continue their play and we can get on a roll.

More struggles for Aroldis Chapman. Frank Aguilar had to bail you out. Any change from pregame on your Chapman thoughts?

My thoughts have changed, though not from his performance. I won't yet worry about a guy with so few innings pitched. But I noticed after answering the question, but before the sim, that Chapman had an awful development report this week, i'm concerned he may be falling off in his old age, but I am not out on him as a contributing member of the bullpen just yet.

Addison Reed pitched the eighth and not the ninth. However, he did face the top three hitters in the Mariners lineup. Did you agree with the usage, or would you have rather seen Chapman in the eighth against a few Mariners lefties?

Considering Chapman's struggles, I'd prefer him to not appear in the highest leverage situations, until he heats up. I would need to see the exact batters Reed faced and the other options who were rested and available, but Reed is a stud and a very accomplished pitcher. I trust him in any situation, he's getting paid to come out in the late innings and shut the door on teams. On the surface I see no issue with him being given the 8th.

[Commissioner Erick]

Trivia 2:

Ben correctly guessed Michael Pineda and Jhoan Duran

Luke correctly guessed Marcus Stroman

Daniel correctly guessed Woo-Seok Ko