On the heels of an entertaining debut to the American League Championship Series, the Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays will get right back to it with another showdown at Kauffman Stadium for Game 2.
The Royals took a stranglehold of the series after Friday night's 5-0 win, but things could just as easily shift in Toronto's favor after Game 2. It all comes down to the second game, which will decide whether the Blue Jays return home with the momentum or if Kansas City will be up 2-0.
Let's take a look at everything you need to know entering Game 2 before widening our scope with some World Series predictions.
ALCS Game 2: Blue Jays at Royals
Date/Time (ET): Saturday, Oct. 17, at 4:07 p.m.
TV: Fox Sports 1
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Odds
Predictions
No matter how you shake it, a franchise that has been waiting a long time for a World Series title is going to end the drought and stand atop baseball this year.
Everybody knows about the Chicago Cubs' curse that stretches back to 1908, but that's only the beginning of the suffering for the last four clubs standing. The Mets haven't won since 1986, the Blue Jays have been waiting since 1992 and the Royals haven't claimed a World Series title since 1985.
It's a nice change of pace from the usual names that dominate October, as author Joe Posnanski quipped:
While it's been a long time coming for all four teams, that's not to say any of them are flukes or failed to earn their way here. In fact, all four are equipped to run the table.
But only one can do that, and only two can emerge from their respective leagues in order to get a shot. In the AL, the Blue Jays appear to be that team.
Toronto started slow in the postseason but rattled off three straight victories over the Texas Rangers in must-win fashion. The team's bats came alive at the perfect time, scoring 19 runs in those final three games.
Kansas City's number was nearly up against the Houston Astros before an unlikely comeback, and the Royals don't have the pitching across the board to slow down the Blue Jays. Led by Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson, the Toronto bats will rake their way into the World Series.
On the National League side, it won't be the hotter offense but rather the steady arms that lead the way as the Mets emerge victorious over a Cubs team that has seemed to have destiny on its side.
New York may start slow, with Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard both having pitched Thursday in Game 5 of the NL Division Series, but the Mets feel confident with Matt Harvey on the mound for Game 1 of the NLCS, as the team's Twitter account noted:
Having deGrom and Syndergaard ready for the middle part of the series will end up boding well for the Mets, and those aces will play a part in stymieing the Cubs attack.
Doing so against the Blue Jays with the world championship on the line, however, won't be as easy.
Not only did Toronto lead baseball in scoring, but it also did so by an incredible margin. The Blue Jays' 891 runs were nearly 130 more than any other team scored—and over 200 more than the Mets' tally of 683.
The Blue Jays will have a stud on the mound in David Price, and the lineup is capable of giving their pitching enough room to feel comfortable throughout the postseason. It's hard to go back on my Blue Jays-over-Mets prediction from the beginning of October, with neither team showing much reason to choose differently.
Prediction: Blue Jays defeat Mets in six games.
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