Royals series preview

The Braves travel to Kansas City tonight to play the Royals in a two-game interleague set isolated between two travel days (yesterday and Thursday).  KC's Kauffman Stadium is the only ballpark in MLB that the Atlanta franchise has never played in, so tonight's game will be historic, though it's probably not something we'll feel compelled to tell our grandkids about. 

The Royals are slowly clawing their way back into the AL playoff picture, trailing Baltimore and New York by five games for the wild card, and Detroit by six-and-a-half in the AL central.  By all accounts, this is a must-win season for GM Dayton Moore's franchise and anything short of an above-.500 finish may well cost him his job.  With the expectation level set as high as it was, it may take a playoff appearance to do the trick.

The offense has been a bitter disappointment, and the shine has worn off the much-heralded hitters KC has developed in its' farm system.  As a team, they are tied for 13th in the AL in wOBA, 13th in wRC+, 11th in OBP, and dead last in ISO.  After a particularly slow start to the season, the Royals demoted their hitting coaches and named Hall of Famer George Brett to the position.  Though the early returns from the players themselves have been glowing, there has yet to be any sort of tangible difference in the team's play. 

The pitching has been better, and the bullpen has been one of the AL's best in terms of ERA and LOB%, but that hasn't been enough to make up for the lack of offensive output.  Offseason acquisition James Shields has been as good as advertised, but one can't help but wonder about what KC gave up to get him.  Wil Myers would look great in place of Jeff Franceour in RF, and considering the success they've had with their free-agent signings, there's room to question the rationale of such a deal, especially in light of the dearth of offense put on display so far in 2013.

As bad as the Royals offense has been, they've performed better on the road, so it's nice to catch them at home.  This is a series that an Atlanta team playing to its' true talent-level should sweep 75% of the time.

Series matchups:

Tonight, 8:10 (local broadcast)

Kris Medlen v. Ervin Santana

Wednesday, 8:10 (local broadcast)

Mike Minor v. Luis Mendoza

Tonight's lineup (this may be my favorite of Fredi's many lineups so far in 2013):

Schafer
Heyward
J Upton
Freeman
McCann
BJ Upton
Uggla
Johnson
Simmons (HOORAY)

(Stadium overlay courtesy of Hit Tracker Online)