Just as we were all geared up to see the third game of the American League Championship Series between the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles on Monday night, Mother Nature had to interfere. Some inclement weather rolled into town, and the game was postponed as a result.
Fox Sports: MLB had the updated series schedule following the postponement:
Now that we're forced to wait until Tuesday night to see this series continue, we have some more time to speculate on which team is most likely to earn a coveted berth in the World Series. Before we get into some predictions, here's an updated look at the remaining ALCS schedule.
*Denotes "if necessary" games.
Series Prediction
Luckily, Monday's game was called before pitchers began warming up, which means Wei-Yin Chen is still slated to take the mound for the Orioles and Jeremy Guthrie remains scheduled to start for the Royals.
Guthrie wasn't overwhelmingly consistent during the regular season, accumulating a record of 13-11 and a 4.13 ERA. Fortunately for the Royals, he enters Game 3 on a three-game winning streak, pitching at least seven innings in two of those contests.
Chen had a horrid outing in his one postseason start. The Detroit Tigers pummeled him for seven hits and five earned runs—including two home runs—over just 3.2 innings, which was good enough for a 12.27 ERA.
Jon Morosi of Fox Sports summed up exactly what Baltimore needs out of Chen in Game 3, via a tweet from America's Pregame:
The Royals have been all over Baltimore's pitching rotation, and based on what we saw from Chen's first outing in October, the home team's lineup could have a field day once again. Making matters worse for the Orioles is their shaky relief pitching. Darren O'Day has been horrid in this series and has earned two losses, while Zach Britton hasn't been much better.
On the other hand, we have a steady Kelvin Herrera, Greg Holland's two saves and Wade Davis' lights-out performances for the Royals, via this tweet from MLB:
It's clear Kansas City has the upper hand on the mound right now. After this team discovered the long ball in the postseason to combine with some savvy baserunning, the Royals may be the most well-rounded team remaining in the playoffs.
Now, this team gets three consecutive games at home. Expect this Kansas City team to put the Orioles on the ropes in Game 3 and refuse to allow this series to go back to Baltimore.
Prediction: Royals in five
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