Well folks, no more Royals off days until the biggest off day hits: the offseason. Your Kansas City Royals start off a six-game stretch out on the West Coast this evening, with three against the Los Angeles
Angels and three against the homeless wonders, the Athletics. Kansas City enters tonight at an even .500 (78-78) and are still mathematically in the playoff hunt. Their tragic number hovers at 1, with either a loss or a win by the Houston Astros or Cleveland Guardians sufficient to eliminate Kansas City entirely.
Tonight’s series opener against the Angels is Kansas City’s first game against a team below .500 since Sept. 7, when they played against the Minnesota Twins. The Angels had Kansas City’s number when the Angels traveled to Kauffman Stadium earlier this season, taking two out of three against the hosts. A Royals sweep would give them the season series win for just the second time since 2017.
Southpaw Cole Ragans takes the mound for Kansas City, facing a team that roughed him up last season. The Angels scored 12 runs in 11.1 innings Ragans pitched against them, good for a 8.74 ERA. This will be Ragans’ first road start since June 5. Ragans has missed more than 100 games this season on the injured list with two separate injuries, but his start last Wednesday against the Seattle Mariners was just what Kansas City needed to see in his return. Hopefully the Royals get more than 3.2 innings from Ragans today, but Ragans is in line for one more start in the season finale against the Athletics.
Check out the series preview from Max Rieper for more information on the Angels. Otherwise, let’s cheer on the Royals together!
