KC Royals: Brad Keller vs the White Sox is going to be must-see TV

Brad Keller was moved from his original Wednesday start to now starting against the White Sox in the KC Royals’ first meeting with Chicago this year. 

Mike Matheny seems to be keeping the Kansas City Royals’ early opponents guessing who they will be seeing on the mound. On Wednesday afternoon’s matinee, it appears that the second-year Royals’ manager will be using an opener from the bullpen against Cleveland. The choice to start is going to be Jakob Junis.

This shift in the rotation will put Brad Keller to start against the Chicago White Sox and Lance Lynn. Thursday will be the White Sox home opener and Royals fans should be very excited that this move was made and maybe even have a bit of smirk on their face going into this weekend’s series.

Keller gave up six earned runs over 1.1 innings in the season’s opener and is still considered the Royals “ace”. So why would Matheny not have him match up against Cleveland’s ace Shane Bieber on Wednesday after Keller has had plenty of rest since his Opening Day start?

It is simple — Matheny is making a statement that the KC Royals truly are going to compete for the AL Central crown and he wants Brad Keller to help him prove that point.

It’s worth thinking about several factors of what makes this first game against the White Sox so important to the Royals and why Matheny would want his best arms on the mound for this series.

This will be the first time that Mike Matheny will manage against his mentor and predecessor Tony La Russa. Remember that Matheny took over as the Cardinals’ skipper after La Russa retired in 2011. La Russa came out of retirement to take the White Sox managerial position this past offseason at the age of 76.

Let’s also remember that Keller landed on the list of Chicago’s “biggest sports villains”. This all stemmed from an incident that took place in April of 2019 when Keller threw a pitch at White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson. Anderson had homered earlier in the game and flipped his bat flamboyantly before beginning his home run trot. Keller took offense.

After getting a no-decision in the game that led to a five-game suspension, Keller has had one win versus two losses against the White Sox. In those games, he has only faced Anderson three times yielding only a single. It’s worth noting that Keller did not pitch against the White Sox during the 2020 season.

Early in the season, it appears that the Kansas City Royals are going to try and set the stage early to show the White Sox that they will need to go through them if they want to win the AL Central.

It’s not going to be surprising if there are a few sparks when these two take the field this weekend. It always seems like each year when these two teams meet something causes the benches to clear.

Just look at the parallels of the first time these two teams met in 2015 and you’ll see why not backing down from the White Sox early in the year is so important. This rivalry is only going to heat up more.

Sit back and enjoy.