After last night's tense victory over the Oakland Athletics, the Kansas City Royals no doubt allowed themselves a sigh of relief.
That relief will be short lived though, as they travel to Anaheim to take on the Los Angeles Angels starting on Thursday in the American League Division Series.
The Angels, who decimated the field and won the AL West going away, winning 98 games, the most in the majors, boast the league's best home record (52-39).
Offensively they are ranked third in the AL in batting average (.259), fourth in slugging (.406) and OPS (.728) and tied for fourth in home runs (155).
Kansas City presents a strong opposition, with their pitching staff ranking fourth in ERA (3.51), seventh in WHIP (1.26) and eighth in opponents' batting average (.250) while also allowing the third-fewest home runs (128) in the league.
The Royals rode small ball to a postseason berth, posting the second-highest batting average in the AL and leading the league in stolen bases (one of which was Jarrod Dyson's awesome steal of third in the bottom of the ninth against Oakland last night), while finishing the regular season with less than 100 home runs.
Albert Pujols had a bounce back year for the Angels, batting .272/.324/.466, coming in third among AL first basemen in home runs and RBI's. He also has one hell of an October resume, with a .330/.439/.607 career batting line in 321 postseason plate appearances.
He's also got 18 homers and 18 doubles.
First baseman Eric Hosmer, one of last night's heroes for the Royals batted .287/.343/.489 in the final 27 games of the regular season.
As for the starting rotations, the Angels lead with veterans Jered Weaver (2.21 ERA) and C.J. Wilson (3.20 ERA). Youngster Matt Shoemaker, should he be healthy, will most likely take the ball in Game 3.
They also boosted their bullpen with the late season additions of Huston Street and Jason Grilli, both acquired at the deadline.
The Royals meanwhile have arguably the best late-inning group in the playoffs, with setup man Wade Davis (1.00 ERA) and closer Greg Holland (1.44 ERA, 90 strikeouts).
The Royals used their ace, big righty James Shields to ensure they made it past the Athletics so they're going to have to mix and match their rotation for the ALDS. Danny Duffy (7.50 ERA) has had a hell of a return from injury and could be in line to start Game 1. Rookie phenom Yordano Ventura (4.50 ERA) could also get the nod, but he pitched last night as well.
Look for the Royals to try to keep games close and squeeze out victories through small ball scoring and a heavy reliance on their bullpen to close out games.
The Angels meanwhile want to dominant from the get go. They know that Kansas City can't put up big runs so they want to score and score and score some more. They hit both Duffy and Ventura well during the team's regular season matchups.
