In early June, it appeared that the Kansas City Royals would miss the MLB Post-Season for a 29th consecutive season. After losing 18 of 30 games in May, the Royals tumbled into the AL Central basement, with a record of 26-30, 6.5-games back of the Detroit Tigers.
Fast forward two months and the Royals, powered by an incredible 15-3 run, sit in control of the second AL Wild Card and just half a game back of the heavily favored Tigers.
It has been an amazing turnaround for the Royals, whose 86-win campaign in 2013 was their first winning season since 2003, and who started 2014 as 33/1 longshots to claim their first World Series title since 1985.
With a no-name staff led by starters James Shields and Yordano Ventura, and closer Greg Holland, the Royals have received some solid pitching performances that have made up for an offence that ranks in the top 10 in batting average and hits, but sits dead last in homeruns.
Shields and Ventura’s have combined for 15 wins since the beginning of July. But the Royals’ pitching success has truly been by committee with nine KC pitchers recording victories since July 1.
The Royals have also been received some solid offensive performances from players who are not quite household names around Major League Baseball. After struggling in June, batting just .255 on the month while striking out on 28 occasions, outfielder Alex Gordon has turned it on, batting .288 in July and .313 in the first half of August.
The 30 year-old has also produced 24 doubles through the end of July, despite suffering a wrist injury that forced him to miss action for 10 days and kept him out of the 2014 All-Star Game.
DH Billy Butler has also been on fire, hitting an impressive .382 in the first ten days of August to boost his average above .270, while knocking in 48 runs and contributing 26 doubles.
Perhaps just as important to the success of the Royals could be the Tigers’ current struggles. Detroit have started August with a middling 5-5 record including a demoralizing 6-5, 19-inning loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on August 10; a game they had led by a score of 5-0.
With injuries to pitchers Anibal Sanchez and Joakim Soria, key cogs in the Tiger pitching machine, Detroit will need to dig down deep, not only to maintain their slim AL Central lead, but also stay ahead of the growing number of teams closing in on the second and final Wild Card spot.
