Post by Commissioner Erick on Mar 17, 2022 17:04:08 GMT -5
Kansas City Royals vs Detroit Tigers
Jorge Vargas and Roderick Dalton will meet in a clash of young superstars on AL Central teams. Superstar talent has started to pop in the AL Central and nowhere has that been more clear than in this years playoffs. The Royals swept the Mariners, and the Tigers swept the Red Sox, meaning that the AL Central will by the only AL division that will walk out of the playoffs with a win. The Royals and Tigers have already played 19 games this season with the Royals taking the season series 11-8. Now they will meet for at least 4 more games in what should be an exciting ALCS with arguably the two best hitters on the planet.
Lineups:
Royals
As mentioned in the ALDS preview the Royals lineup revolves around one man, Jorge Vargas. Vargas is one of the premier hitters in the PBA. He didn't disappoint in the ALDS slashing 385/444/692 to help dispatch the Mariners in 4 games. Last year Vargas wasn't himself in the playoffs but he's made the necessary adjustments which is scary for Tigers pitching. Vargas hit 307/381/587 vs the Tigers in the regular season. Fantastic numbers but actually a tad under his season averages. Vargas is a lefthanded power bat and really the only hope of even slowing him down even a little is lefthanded pitching. He has "only" a career 129 OPS+ vs LHP as opposed to his career 191 OPS+ vs RHP. The Tigers will throw a pair of LHP in Asa Lacy and Gregory Reinoso this series who Vargas has hit only 11/45 against. Those two will need to have a good series for the Tigers to have any hope.
Vargas is not the only young star on the Royals. Jonathan Bakos is a righthanded bat who figures to give the Tigers lefties fits. He just won the ALDS MVP award off the back of hitting 471 against Seattle. He hit around his season average against Detroit and that season average was a 971 OPS+ so the Tigers will have their hands full. Kansas City's regulars all generally had good series against the Mariners. One key will be to see if 3B Harland Guenette can get his bat going. Kansas City will need him to get his bat going to give them another RH bat to send out against Detroit's lefties.
Tigers
Roderick Dalton just came off an ALDS in which he had a 1.014 OPS. That was a lower OPS than he had in the regular season. Dalton finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting to Jorge Vargas last year and this year truly broke out and had a season for the ages. The 6'8 Australian sensation led the AL in each major slash category hitting 365/464/672 on his way to a 1.136 OPS and a 199 OPS+. He's simply unstoppable at the plate when he's locked in. His performance helped carry an otherwise lackluster Tigers lineup to a top 5 wOBA. Outside of Dalton only 2 Tigers regulars had an OPS+ over 100. If Kansas City can get Dalton out they should be in good shape but that's much much easier said than done. He hit 391 against them this season.
The lack of hitting outside of Dalton has started to change some in the playoffs however. Jacob Pearson has been on the tradeblock much of the season with Detroit unhappy with his performance. The impending FA CF stated his case for why he needs to be removed from the block in the ALDS. He had a 240 OPS+ en route to an ALDS MVP. He's gotten going along with fellow OFer Oraj Anu. If these guys can stay hot Kansas City will be under a lot more pressure than just Roderick Dalton.
Advantage: Royals. Each team has an absolute stud in the middle of their order, but the Royals run a deeper lineup.
Defenses:
Royals
The Royals run out a strong defensive team, even with one of their best defensive players SS Xavier Edwards nursing a strained hammy. The team had a top 5 defense in the PBA. They are coming off a series in which they shutout Seattle twice and only allowed more than 1 run in a single game. The Royals defense is clicking at the right time. They are particularly strong up the middle with the arm of C Blake Hunt and the gloves of the aforementioned Edwards at SS and Humberto Camacho in CF.
Tigers
Roderick Dalton is one of the best defensive 1B's around thanks to his height providing a nice target for Tigers infielders. Luis Zapien has yet to play a game in the regular season but the rookie has provided great defense in CF in his playoff debut. However middle IF defense has been an issue for the Tigers all season and will likely be an issue again against a Royals team that puts the ball in play. Daniel Brito has not been good at 2B defense and Knighter is average at SS.
Advantage: Royals, they are stronger defensively at the premier positions.
Pitching:
Royals
The Royals weak contact inducing machine was on full display in the ALDS against the Mariners. No Royals starter allowed more than 2 ER and the team shut out the Mariners over half of the series. They shut out the Tigers once in the regular season but as the season wore on the Tigers tended to put up more and more runs per game. Kansas City eagerly awaits the return of LHP Taylor Lehman who suffered a minor elbow injury in the ALDS. It's important to get him back as the Tigers went only 28-28 this year against left handed starters vs 60-46 against RHP. Kansas City's unconventional ace LHP Tyler Alexander and RHP Kyle Hendricks are both on fire having come off strong ALDS outings. Alexander pitched well against Detroit in the regular season and the Royals will need that to continue in the ALDS.
Kansas City's bullpen only allowed 3 runs in the entire series against the Mariners. The backend of Addison Reed and Joe Shilts lived up to their billing and the deep outings of Kansas City's starters allowed them to avoid using their weaker middle relievers. It's unrealistic to expect the Royals pen to repeat those numbers against the Tigers but the bullpen is a strong point on the team.
Tigers
The Tigers won their series against the Red Sox mostly due to their bats but don't get it wrong, they run a very good rotation and have arguably the game's best reliever in David Heide. The rotation is anchored by 36 year old Carlos Martinez. Once on the league's premier pitchers, Martinez isn't what he was at his peak but he is still a guy capable of leading a staff. He gets more movement on his pitches than almost any other pitcher, and allowed only 10 home runs all season. He didn't allow a run in his start against Boston in the ALDS. Key for the Tigers will be the production they get out of their #2 and #3 starters, Asa Lacy and Gregory Reinoso. Lacy had a 2.70 ERA against the Royals in the regular season, Reinoso a 6.48... If Reinoso can improve on that the Tigers should be in a good place as the Kansas City lineup is generally weaker against southpaws.
You can run but you can't Heide when David is on the mound. Throwing a nasty cutter and curve combination David Heide has emerged as one of the best relievers around. He's likely on his way to winning a 2nd consecutive AL reliever of the year award with a 2.33 ERA and 40 save campaign. He has insane movement on his cutter leading to weak contact and only 5 home runs allowed all season. Hunter Barco, the world's best attack dog is another name to look out for in the Detroit pen. He's the lefthanded compliment to the righthanded Heide and did not allow a run in the ALDS against the Red Sox. However Kansas City put a 4 spot on him in the 4.1 innings he pitched against them this season.
Advantage: Kansas City had the lower team ERA in the regular season but the two teams are pretty close. I see this as a pretty even matchup. Whoever's LHP perform better will probably be advancing to the World Series.
Key Questions:
Roderick Dalton, Jorge Vargas. Who will have the better series? These two are great friends and are going to be playing against each other for a long time.
Which team has their lefthanded pitching outperform the other teams southpaws?
The Tigers play in a hitters park and the Royals a pitchers. Will the Royals homefield help sway the series with how their team is built for their park?
Prediction: Royals in 7. The Royals pitching has been too good for me to pick against them right now. I see both Dalton and Vargas having huge series but the Royals defense giving them just enough of an edge to win in 7.
This article was written by Luke Grimmelbein
Jorge Vargas and Roderick Dalton will meet in a clash of young superstars on AL Central teams. Superstar talent has started to pop in the AL Central and nowhere has that been more clear than in this years playoffs. The Royals swept the Mariners, and the Tigers swept the Red Sox, meaning that the AL Central will by the only AL division that will walk out of the playoffs with a win. The Royals and Tigers have already played 19 games this season with the Royals taking the season series 11-8. Now they will meet for at least 4 more games in what should be an exciting ALCS with arguably the two best hitters on the planet.
Lineups:
Royals
As mentioned in the ALDS preview the Royals lineup revolves around one man, Jorge Vargas. Vargas is one of the premier hitters in the PBA. He didn't disappoint in the ALDS slashing 385/444/692 to help dispatch the Mariners in 4 games. Last year Vargas wasn't himself in the playoffs but he's made the necessary adjustments which is scary for Tigers pitching. Vargas hit 307/381/587 vs the Tigers in the regular season. Fantastic numbers but actually a tad under his season averages. Vargas is a lefthanded power bat and really the only hope of even slowing him down even a little is lefthanded pitching. He has "only" a career 129 OPS+ vs LHP as opposed to his career 191 OPS+ vs RHP. The Tigers will throw a pair of LHP in Asa Lacy and Gregory Reinoso this series who Vargas has hit only 11/45 against. Those two will need to have a good series for the Tigers to have any hope.
Vargas is not the only young star on the Royals. Jonathan Bakos is a righthanded bat who figures to give the Tigers lefties fits. He just won the ALDS MVP award off the back of hitting 471 against Seattle. He hit around his season average against Detroit and that season average was a 971 OPS+ so the Tigers will have their hands full. Kansas City's regulars all generally had good series against the Mariners. One key will be to see if 3B Harland Guenette can get his bat going. Kansas City will need him to get his bat going to give them another RH bat to send out against Detroit's lefties.
Tigers
Roderick Dalton just came off an ALDS in which he had a 1.014 OPS. That was a lower OPS than he had in the regular season. Dalton finished 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting to Jorge Vargas last year and this year truly broke out and had a season for the ages. The 6'8 Australian sensation led the AL in each major slash category hitting 365/464/672 on his way to a 1.136 OPS and a 199 OPS+. He's simply unstoppable at the plate when he's locked in. His performance helped carry an otherwise lackluster Tigers lineup to a top 5 wOBA. Outside of Dalton only 2 Tigers regulars had an OPS+ over 100. If Kansas City can get Dalton out they should be in good shape but that's much much easier said than done. He hit 391 against them this season.
The lack of hitting outside of Dalton has started to change some in the playoffs however. Jacob Pearson has been on the tradeblock much of the season with Detroit unhappy with his performance. The impending FA CF stated his case for why he needs to be removed from the block in the ALDS. He had a 240 OPS+ en route to an ALDS MVP. He's gotten going along with fellow OFer Oraj Anu. If these guys can stay hot Kansas City will be under a lot more pressure than just Roderick Dalton.
Advantage: Royals. Each team has an absolute stud in the middle of their order, but the Royals run a deeper lineup.
Defenses:
Royals
The Royals run out a strong defensive team, even with one of their best defensive players SS Xavier Edwards nursing a strained hammy. The team had a top 5 defense in the PBA. They are coming off a series in which they shutout Seattle twice and only allowed more than 1 run in a single game. The Royals defense is clicking at the right time. They are particularly strong up the middle with the arm of C Blake Hunt and the gloves of the aforementioned Edwards at SS and Humberto Camacho in CF.
Tigers
Roderick Dalton is one of the best defensive 1B's around thanks to his height providing a nice target for Tigers infielders. Luis Zapien has yet to play a game in the regular season but the rookie has provided great defense in CF in his playoff debut. However middle IF defense has been an issue for the Tigers all season and will likely be an issue again against a Royals team that puts the ball in play. Daniel Brito has not been good at 2B defense and Knighter is average at SS.
Advantage: Royals, they are stronger defensively at the premier positions.
Pitching:
Royals
The Royals weak contact inducing machine was on full display in the ALDS against the Mariners. No Royals starter allowed more than 2 ER and the team shut out the Mariners over half of the series. They shut out the Tigers once in the regular season but as the season wore on the Tigers tended to put up more and more runs per game. Kansas City eagerly awaits the return of LHP Taylor Lehman who suffered a minor elbow injury in the ALDS. It's important to get him back as the Tigers went only 28-28 this year against left handed starters vs 60-46 against RHP. Kansas City's unconventional ace LHP Tyler Alexander and RHP Kyle Hendricks are both on fire having come off strong ALDS outings. Alexander pitched well against Detroit in the regular season and the Royals will need that to continue in the ALDS.
Kansas City's bullpen only allowed 3 runs in the entire series against the Mariners. The backend of Addison Reed and Joe Shilts lived up to their billing and the deep outings of Kansas City's starters allowed them to avoid using their weaker middle relievers. It's unrealistic to expect the Royals pen to repeat those numbers against the Tigers but the bullpen is a strong point on the team.
Tigers
The Tigers won their series against the Red Sox mostly due to their bats but don't get it wrong, they run a very good rotation and have arguably the game's best reliever in David Heide. The rotation is anchored by 36 year old Carlos Martinez. Once on the league's premier pitchers, Martinez isn't what he was at his peak but he is still a guy capable of leading a staff. He gets more movement on his pitches than almost any other pitcher, and allowed only 10 home runs all season. He didn't allow a run in his start against Boston in the ALDS. Key for the Tigers will be the production they get out of their #2 and #3 starters, Asa Lacy and Gregory Reinoso. Lacy had a 2.70 ERA against the Royals in the regular season, Reinoso a 6.48... If Reinoso can improve on that the Tigers should be in a good place as the Kansas City lineup is generally weaker against southpaws.
You can run but you can't Heide when David is on the mound. Throwing a nasty cutter and curve combination David Heide has emerged as one of the best relievers around. He's likely on his way to winning a 2nd consecutive AL reliever of the year award with a 2.33 ERA and 40 save campaign. He has insane movement on his cutter leading to weak contact and only 5 home runs allowed all season. Hunter Barco, the world's best attack dog is another name to look out for in the Detroit pen. He's the lefthanded compliment to the righthanded Heide and did not allow a run in the ALDS against the Red Sox. However Kansas City put a 4 spot on him in the 4.1 innings he pitched against them this season.
Advantage: Kansas City had the lower team ERA in the regular season but the two teams are pretty close. I see this as a pretty even matchup. Whoever's LHP perform better will probably be advancing to the World Series.
Key Questions:
Roderick Dalton, Jorge Vargas. Who will have the better series? These two are great friends and are going to be playing against each other for a long time.
Which team has their lefthanded pitching outperform the other teams southpaws?
The Tigers play in a hitters park and the Royals a pitchers. Will the Royals homefield help sway the series with how their team is built for their park?
Prediction: Royals in 7. The Royals pitching has been too good for me to pick against them right now. I see both Dalton and Vargas having huge series but the Royals defense giving them just enough of an edge to win in 7.
This article was written by Luke Grimmelbein