Series Preview: Scuffling Royals face first place Twins

Believe it or not, with a 20-17 record, the Twins are STILL in first place in the AL Central division. It may be mostly because of well timed rain-outs (the Indians and Tigers are tied for second place at 20-19), but whatever! It just proves Mother Nature is looking out for us.

Less of a surprise is the fact the poor Royals, at 17-23, are still in last place. This weekend’s series marks already the third meeting of the year between these two teams, who seem to have gone through some sort of freaky Friday switcharoo compared to recent years. Like, the Royals are really bad now. Not Padres-level bad, but close.

Why are the Royals so bad? Well, they can’t hit anything, as shown by the fact they currently rank 27th in offensive fWAR, which is offensive. While the team’s combined 4.1 fWAR in pitching ranks twelfth in the majors, most of that is due to starters Jason Vargas (1.6 fWAR) and Danny Duffy (1.5 fWAR)—and neither of them are pitching against the Twins this weekend.

Did I mention the Twins are 5-0 against the Royals so far this year?

Even though the Twins have the backer end of their rotation going this weekend—including the soon-to-be-called-up Adalberto Mejia, who is penciled in to start Saturday—it doesn’t seem like the Royals should be much trouble. Of course, my strong confidence in the Twins this series probably means they will shit the bed or something. If the Royals sweep the Twins, blame me.

Pitching Match-Ups

Game 1: Friday, 5/19, 7:10 pm CT - Hector Santiago LHP vs. Nate Karns RHP

Game 2: Saturday, 5/20, 1:10 pm CT - Adalberto Mejia LHP vs. TBD

Game 3: Sunday, 5/21, 1:10 pm CT - Phil Hughes RHP vs. Jason Hammel RHP

Notes

• Friday’s starter for the Royals, Nate Karns, struck out twelve batters in five innings in his last start against Baltimore. That’s, like, every batter except three. That’s a lot, and it set a five-inning franchise strike out record for Kansas City, which is a thing. Maybe.
• Miguel Sano has a home run and a triple against Karns
• Drew Butera is batting .303 through 34 plate appearances, for some reason. He also has two home runs, which is half way to his single-season career record of four home runs.