Kansas City Royals: Is The Pressure Sinking In

Despite the Kansas City Royals winning on Saturday, their lead for home field advantage throughout the playoffs dwindled to a mere two and a half games.

The Kansas City Royals had a six game lead for home field advantage just a short few weeks ago. The Toronto Blue Jays, however, have been on fire since the All-Star Game, and are closing in on the Royals for that coveted home field advantage in the American League throughout the postseason.

Yes, the Royals still have the lead at two and a half games, but the Blue Jays won two games on Saturday to narrow the margin. The Royals really need to pick it up and try and break away from the Jays.

Kansas City hit a massive slump this past week. Their bullpen had a hiccup on Friday night when Kelvin Herrera gave up a grand slam to lose the lead for the Royals. KC led 6-4 at that moment with a rare home run from Alex Rios and two from Lorenzo Cain, but went on to lose in Baltimore.

While the Royals managed to smoke the Orioles on Saturday, it’s almost starting to look like these guys know what’s at stake and are letting it affect their performance on the diamond.

For one, they’ve only won two games in the past week. Teams go through slumps, this is true, but the Royals haven’t experienced a slump like this in months. They were swept at home by the Chicago White Sox and then lost another series at home to the Minnesota Twins. They ended that home stretch with a 3-7 record.

If the Royals lose on Sunday in Baltimore, they’ll have lost three straight series in a row, which hasn’t happened all season.

The scarier part of all of this is that the Blue Jays just aren’t slowing down. Their lineup is continuing to put runs on the board, and their pitching is dominant ever since acquiring David Price from the Detroit Tigers.

Johnny Cueto hasn’t been good since coming to Kansas City, the starting rotation as a whole has been shaky, and the offense will go through phases where they can’t hit to save their lives.

The Blue Jays were trailing the New York Yankees by seven games for the American League East lead just a month ago, and now lead it by four and a half games. Many Royals fans were hoping to see the Yankees win that division so that the Jays would have to go in the Wildcard and risk going home before even coming to Kauffman Stadium.

Now, however, if the Blue Jays keep dominating and win the AL East, there’s a real chance they could pass the Royals for home field advantage throughout in the playoffs.

I love the Kansas City Royals, but this recent slump scares me a little. Like I said, I get that teams go through several slumps during the span of the year. I’m glad that the Royals are having theirs now as opposed to when October rolls around, but still.

Johnny Cueto hasn’t been good since coming to Kansas City, the starting rotation as a whole has been shaky, and the offense will go through phases where they can’t hit to save their lives.

The Kansas City Royals are a good team, and we just have to remain calm and keep telling ourselves that they have the record they have for a reason. They’re going to the postseason, and they’re going to make us proud. Hopefully all of that will happen with American League home field advantage coming through Kansas City.

Next: The Ben Zobrist Effect

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