Royals Will Take Commanding Lead Over Yankees

Yankees vs. Royals, 7:08 ET

I understand baseball players are used to playing pretty much every day, but in the playoffs it always seems strange to me that they play back-to-back games. I'm not talking about this series, as the Yankees and Royals enter Game 3 and are coming off of an off day. But, we have four playoff games today. I would think that baseball would want to extend these series as long as possible. The National League played yesterday and now all four series go today with Game three of one of the American League series taking place between the Yankees and Royals. 

It sounds a little ridiculous because all playoff games are important, but this is arguably the most important game of the series. The team that wins today will get two chances to close out the series, instead of having two win both games. The Yankees won the first game of the series, but dropped the second and allowed the Royals to steal away a bit of that home-field advantage. In the first game, it was a bit of a back-and-forth battle with the Yankees stealing the game for good in the bottom of the 7th on a Verdugo single. They lost the lead three times in that game and took it back each time. It is hard to be mad at any player for not doing well in the playoffs, considering it has been just two games, but Aaron Judge is hitting just .143 in the series with one hit in seven at-bats. Judge does have a run scored, two walks, but four strikeouts. Unfortunately, these players need to play great right away, there is no warmup period. Tonight they look to take the lead in the series with Clarke Schmidt on the hill. Schmidt had a nice season with a 5-5 record, 2.85 ERA, and a 1.18 WHIP. He hasn't pitched since September 29th, so he may not be all that sharp in this one. His last start saw him allow four earned runs in four innings as well. He didn't face the Royals this season, but he has allowed 16 hits in 51 at-bats to them in the past. 

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 4: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees after being intentionally walked during the fifth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium on August 4, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Adam Hunger/Getty Images)

I've said this about the Tigers, but the truth is the same about the Royals: they are somewhat playing with house money. No one really expected them to make the playoffs this year, and they were underdogs against the Orioles as well. They are in the same spot here against the Yankees, but they now have two games at home to at least extend or end the series. After losing the opening game, they fell behind the Yankees after three innings. Then they got a game-tying homer from their leader, Salvador Perez, before the rest of the team contributed another three runs in the top of the fourth. The Yankees got one run in the ninth, but it wasn't enough and the team was headed back to Kansas City with a tied series. Today they get to rely on arguably their best pitcher, Seth Lugo, to lead them to victory. Lugo went 4.1 innings in his first playoff start against the Royals with just one earned run allowed, a solo homer. He allowed five hits and one walk in the time he was on the rubber. He did face the Yankees earlier in September and allowed just three hits over seven scoreless innings while striking out 10 hitters. He faced them in June as well, allowing four earned runs in seven innings, that game came in Kansas City. His ERA is higher at home than it is on the road, so perhaps there is a reason for concern. 

Most playoff games have a total of 6.5 or 7.5, but this one is sitting at 8. The Yankees are always a threat to break out the bats, and they've shown mixed results against Lugo. The Royals seem to be playing much more loose and don't have the same level of stress that comes with playing in New York. I am going to stick with my guy Lugo here in the playoffs. He has rewarded my betting on him over and over this season. I'll take him again. I do lean toward the over as well.

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