With all the hype surrounding the high-octane Toronto Blue Jays and their world-beating bats, the Kansas City Royals seemed to get swept under the rug a little bit heading into the American League Championship Series.
Even though they finished with the best record in the American League and were the World Series runners-up last season, the Royals weren't receiving the same level of respect as the Blue Jays, who were one of baseball's hottest teams in the second half of the year.
But in a 5-0 Game 1 win, Kansas City showed why it is a team to be reckoned with. Completely shutting down Toronto offensively while scoring just enough on their own, the Royals put together a vital performance to keep home-field advantage in their favor as the series moves to Game 2.
With a quick turnaround, both teams have to be ready to move on from the events in Game 1 and focus on winning Game 2 before the series shifts to Toronto in front of what is likely to be a raucous and passionate crowd.
Here's where and when you can watch Game 2 of the ALCS:
Date: Saturday, Oct. 17
Time: 4:07 p.m. ET
TV: Fox Sports 1, Sportsnet
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Royals Storyline: Can the Royals starting pitching get them to the top?
When Johnny Cueto was brought to Kansas City this summer, he was expected to be the ace for a team that figured a single star starting pitcher could help secure the World Series title that it so narrowly missed out on last year.
In Game 5 against the Astros, with the season on the line, Cueto showed he is more than up to the task asked of him, even if his finish to the regular season wasn't the strongest. His first start against Houston was so-so, but when it mattered most, the former Cincinnati Red went eight innings, only allowing two hits and two earned runs.
But while headlines were still focused on Cueto and Game 5, teammate Edinson Volquez was busy putting on a show of his own against one of the most prolific offensive teams in the league.
Against a star-studded Blue Jays lineup, Volquez more than held his own, going six innings and allowing two hits and no earned runs. With the help of their relief staff, the Royals completed the first shutout of Toronto since mid-September and took an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Offensively, the Royals never have to worry with players like Kendrys Morales and Ben Zobrist leading the way, but now with the quick growth of the starting pitching staff, Kansas City might be on its way to the franchise's first title since 1985.
Blue Jays Storyline: Where have the bats gone?
Perhaps when Jose Bautista flipped his bat in the seventh inning of Game 5 against the Texas Rangers, he did so with such gusto that it made it so the Blue Jays lost all of their hitting prowess for the rest of the playoffs.
While the above statement is made entirely in jest—although if any bat flip ever had the powers to alter the course of history, it would be Bautista's—Toronto is just one game into the ALCS against the Royals and has a serious question it needs answered: What happened to the league's best offense?
It is always hard to take things at face value when the sample size is as small as this—sometimes stats can lie over the course of the 162-game season, let alone a single playoff contest—but when your lineup includes the likes of Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki, big offensive performances are more like than not to occur.
So after being blanked by the Royals in Game 1 on the shoulders of a masterful performance from Volquez, the Jays have to be worried about their league-best offensive machine—Toronto finished tied for second in batting average and led the league in runs, home runs and RBI—and need to recapture their form if they want to head to Toronto with the series even.
A return from David Price in Game 2 will go a long way toward squaring up the series, and Yordano Ventura's 4.08 ERA won't strike a lot of fear in the Jays lineup. But if the bats can't get going Saturday afternoon, Toronto could face an uphill battle as the series shifts to Canada.
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