ROYAL RUN

Hats off to the Kansas City Royals as they sit in first place of the AL Central (70 W-56 L) 1-1/2 games ahead of the Detroit Tigers.  Thanks to a 22-8 record in their last 30 games (the best in baseball) and with less than 40 games to go the Royals have their first shot at the postseason since 1985 (28 years).

Kansas City is not your typical club and one has to look a little to see the efficiencies of this team.  They don't get much publicity, play in a small market and have no superstars.  They are not a high profile team like their main division opponent the Detroit Tigers.  The Tigers boast a lot of star power with Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and David Price while the Royals have no one with more than 15 HR's (Salvador Perez) no more than 66 RBI's (Alex Gordon) and no .300 hitters.  While KC might still fall flat and miss the playoffs, I think they look good the rest of the way.  

LF Alex Gordon of the KC Royals  (zimbio.com)

 

 

Their best player is relatively unknown.  Alex Gordon with a .284-14-66 line is a superb defensive outfielder and very good base runner.  Fangraphs has him at 5.7 WAR, the best mark for a position player in MLB just ahead of Mike Trout with 5.6.  His defense and base running put him over the top.  The Royals don't hit HR's (78 last in MLB), they don't walk ( only 291 walks, last in MLB,  compared to the Oakland A's 466 ) but are 2nd in the AL in batting average with .265 only behind the Tigers with .271.  Since 2013 they are the best defensive team in MLB and lead the AL with 110 steals and only 24 caught stealing for an 82% success rate.  In this era of high strikeout rates, they have the least strikeouts in MLB with 748 compared to 1129 for the Miami Marlins.

Kelvin Herrera, 24 year old in KC bullpen  (piodeportes.com)

The starting rotation is very good with veterans at the top (James Shields 3.28, Jason Vargas 3.17 and Jeremy Guthrie at 4.48) and 2 power arms filling out the rotation ( Yordano Ventura at 3.48 and Danny Duffy at 2.53 ERA ).  The best bullpen trio in baseball toils in KC:
                                  IP         H       HR    K       ERA
Kelvin Herrera        53.0       40       0      46       1.53
Wade Davis            55.1       28       0      85       0.81
Greg Holland          49.1       34       3      70       1.82
Total                      157.2     102      3      201     1.37    

Wade Davis , 85 K's out of KC bullpen  (zimbio.com)

A modern day trio of the "Nasty Boys" like the 1990 Cincinnati Reds?

Greg Holland, KC closer with 39 saves  (rantsports.com)

The Royals play a very anti-modern era baseball.  They don't hit   
HR's, they don't walk and they don't strikeout and besides they steal bases.  The KC model is "put the ball in play, steal bases, play airtight defense and have the bullpen ready".  They have a payroll of 105 million compared to 184 M for the Tigers.  If you like the underdog, root for the KC Royals as they battle the Detroit Tigers during the September pennant drive.