KC Royals: Root, Root, Root For The Yankees

Carlos Beltran (36) is greeted by designated hitter Alex Rodriguez (13) and pitcher C.C. Sabathia (52) – Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

This may be hard to do, but Royals fans need to root for the New York Yankees.

Royals fans everywhere should be praying for the Yankees to win the American League East, forcing the Blue Jays into the playoffs as a Wild Card team.

Not only will this mean they have to win a game before having the opportunity to play the Royals, but it will mean David Price will have pitched in the October 6 play-in game. He will be unavailable until Game 3 on Saturday the 11th (which would be in Toronto).

The Royals then shouldn’t have to see him again, and if they did, it would be in relief in Game 5.  For the Royals, though, Game 5 would be back in Kansas City, and Johnny Cueto would be on the mound.

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However, if Toronto wins the East and takes care of their Divisional Series opponent, they then roll into town with possibly a fresh Price for the Championship Series. It’s then conceivable he could start Games 1 and 5 (or 2 and 6/7).

Interestingly enough, Price hasn’t been lights-out in his 40 innings of postseason work, going 1-5 with a 4.50 ERA.  As a starter in the postseason, he’s actually 0-5 with a 4.98 ERA in 34.2 innings (Price worked in relief with Tampa Bay in 2008).

Still, he’s never lost against the Royals and has a career 1.93 ERA against them, so I’d prefer to limit his time on the mound as much as possible.

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