After a blistering-hot 8-2 homestand against the Nationals, White Sox, and Rangers, the 66-62 Royals find themselves edging closer to the Seattle Mariners for the third Wild Card spot (objects in mirror may be closer than they appear).
To gain more ground, though, they’ll have to go through the division-leading 76-53 Detroit Tigers as they begin a short roadtrip to Detroit followed by Chicago (AL). The Tigers are also 8-2 in their last 10 games and are riding a three-game winning streak.
The Royals
will start Ryan Bergert in their continued pursuit of the Mariners. Bergert has been a bit of a revelation after his acquisition, having three very solid starts for the Royals so far in August. That’s aligning well with the offense, who is 5th in MLB in fWAR in the past 30 days. They’re on a real heater, led by Vinnie Pasquantino, who will try to hit another dinger tonight to make it five games in a row. They’re playing amazing baseball, and it’s great to have important games here in late August.
The Tigers will send Casey Mize to start, who is having a solid season in his 21 starts. The 2018 first overall pick seems to be fulfilling his potential in his age-28 season. Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson are their main boppers in the lineup, but the Tigers made it to this point by being pretty strong up and down the whole lineup. Trey Sweeney remains the only semi-regular position player who is a black hole on offense.
This should be a wonderful Friday evening collision between two of the hottest teams in MLB, if you can watch it, that is. The game is Apple TV+’s Friday Night Baseball broadcast. Game time is 6:10pm US Central.
Lineups:
