Keuchel's postseason ERA took a hit surrendering that HR... damn. Astros are a bad matchup for them. This was proven during the regular season and much of this series.
Keuchel was the best starter on either team. The other starters were a toss-up. The Royals clearly have the better bullpen. The Royals lineup 1-9 is better than the Astros 1-9. There was a reason they won 95 games over the course of the season. Prior to the series, the Royals would probably have been given the advantage at every position except SS, RF and 2B. Going forward over the next 10 years, I'd take the Astros roster/farm. This season/series, I'd take the Royals.
I disagree. Rasmus > Gordon The Royals simply do not impress me at all. The Astros dominated this series and the Royals had quite a bit of luck on their side in games 4 and 5.
Not really clear cut. Rasmus slugged better over the course of 162 games, but Gordon had a higher Average, OBP and OPS, plus is better defensively.
Luck was because they have better hitters and put the ball in play. They are better because they have a great bullpen with power arms. If we had a good bullpen, that series was over in 3 games in our favor.
I think the opposite is true. We are one of the softest throwing teams in MLB and rely much more on location. KC's approach when they got down was to foul off pitches endlessly and force long ABs that led to walks or pitches they could hit - that's much harder to do against power arms. That's more of a playoff-specific approach so it probably doesn't show up much in the regular season, but they did that very effectively in last year's playoffs too. In the end, I think they were a bad matchup for us in that they created havoc against our bullpen. I think the front office did a good job upgrading the bullpen this year with Gregerson and Neshak, but they need to mix in a couple of late inning power arms next year.
Yep. They wear you down; it's exhausting to watch them play, frankly. I definitely thought the Astros were the better team in this series - but you have to finish it and they couldn't ultimately do it. Oh well.
The Royals are the better team. The Astros should have won the series. Both statements can be, and are, true. No shame in losing to a superior team, it just hurts because we almost pulled this one out.
It's been a very exciting season!! If you told me before the season that they will be in the playoffs, beat the Yanks in their home for the wildcard and play in the ALDS....I'll take it!!
Yet, Keuchel whooped their behinds all season. He's not a power pitcher. He makes it a bad matchup. Royals just need to be happy they injured Springer which factored into us falling out of 1st and having to pitch Keuchel in a WC game. If he throws twice, Royals lose. They should also thank their lucky stars Kazmir fell off. We had 2 LHPs to counter their best hitters. A similar advantage we had against NYY. We're a bad matchup for both those squads.
Do you not remember Keuchel's start against them in KC? (the day of Biggio's HOF induction). Prior to the Arlington annihilation, THAT was Keuchel's worst start of the season.
Keuchel was worse against KC this season than his overall stats, and they had the highest batting average against him of any team he faced (0.293 vs his season-long 0.217). But Kazmir DID fall off and Keuchel wasn't pitching 2 games. This isn't some theoretical thing of "what would happen if everyone's players were playing their best and could pitch when they wanted".
Yep One of the interesting things about this series was how totally opposite the teams were Both theories can obvious work KC gives you quality at bat after quality at bat Astros give you Boom, strikeout, Bang, one pitch out, infield hit stolen base Couldn't be more opposite We definitely have more flash, they wore us down We were a shut down closer away from wining I'm sure Luhnow will try to fix that, he went after the top closers last offseason but none wanted to come here
