Kansas City Royals Could Use Rainout Before Red Sox Series

The Kansas City Royals stretched their bullpen thin during their 13-inning win on Sunday. A rainout could just be a blessing.

The Kansas City Royals won their first series after losing their last five. The series finale against the Braves went longer than anyone thought it would – 13 innings. Due to the length of the game, the Royals used up all their bullpen arms. A rainout will help the Royals bullpen and more.

All nine Royals relief pitchers were used in the marathon extra inning game against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. That means the guys could use some rest heading into a not so great match up against the red hot, Boston Red Sox.

The Red Sox have scored double-digit point totals in five of the last seven games. The Sox are plus 59 in run differential this season, the most of any team in the American League.

The Red Sox’s batters are on a roll right now. The team is slashing .298/.359/.489 through 38 games played this season.

The hottest bat in Boston’s lineup is shortstop, Xander Bogaerts. Bogaerts leads the team in plate appearances with 172. Through 37 games played in 2016, Bogaerts is slashing .338/.390/.503 for Boston.

Every Red Sox batter in the starting lineup has an on-base percentage (OBP) over .300. The highest belonging to David Ortiz at .405. Nearly six guys have a batting average over .300; Dustin Pedroia comes up just short at .001 less than .300.

The Boston Red Sox are tied with another color of Sox for the best record in the American League, the Chicago White Sox at 24 and 14.

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To say the least, this team coming to “the K” is really good.

Could part of Boston’s record be because of Fenway Park? Let’s take a look at the home vs away splits for the answer.

There seems to be a connection here. In 22 home games, the Red Sox have scored 151 runs compared to 78 runs scored in 16 road games. That’s a 73-runs scored differential in just six more games played at home. Boston scores nearly two more runs on average at home (6.86) compared to on the road (4.88).

This is good news for theKC Royals, but there’s bad news as well.

Kansas City hasn’t scored many runs all season long. The Royals are the third worst team in the MLB in average runs scored, just ahead of the Phillies and the Braves, respectively.

Average runs per game at home for Kansas City is 3.78, more than a run less than Boston’s average runs scored on the road. The Royals are minus 18 in run differential this season. That’s 77 runs less than the Red Sox.

The good news is the Royals have a large ballpark. Kauffman Stadium is one of the biggest stadiums in baseball.

According to this chart, Kauffman Stadium is the second largest ballpark in the major leagues and the largest in the American League with 2.67 acres of fair territory. Compared to Fenway Park’s 2.34 acres of fair territory.

The difference in ballpark size should limit the amount of runs scored by the Red Sox during their stay at “the K”.

The Royals will need the starting pitchers to get deep in games. The starters for Kansas City against the Red Sox are Yordano Ventura, Ian Kennedy, and Edinson Volquez.

Ventura will set the tone for the starters vs. right-hander, Rick Porcello in game one of the series.

He will look to improve his 4.62 ERA against a great team. This will be a major test for him early in the season.

During his last outing, he allowed three runs off six hits getting through six innings against the Yankees on the road. Not a bad evening for the 24-year-old. If he can duplicate those numbers or do better against the Red Sox, the Royals have a real shot at winning the game.

Hopefully, the rain will cool off the bats for Ventura, so the Royals can get a winning streak going.

Until Sunday, the Royals had lost five straight series, going a miserable four and 12 during that stretch. It’s time to get things turned around.

Next: All-Time Royals Leaders in Wins

An extra day off right now is just what the KC Royals need. It would help rest their bullpen, and maybe even cool off those red hot Red Sox. At this point, the Royals could use the day off.

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