Blue Jays-Royals: Forget the Caricature

If you were drawing a cartoon of the President of the United States of America, you'd give him dumbo ears, a long face with a Rhode Island-sized forehead and a mole that nearly blots out his nose. There's some truth in the caricature, but it's blown out of proportion.

It's easy to fall into the same trap with the Royals-Blue Jays series. You will hear a lot of pitching versus hitting about this match-up. For sure, the Blue Jays were baseball's best team on offense, mashing 232 home runs. And it's true the Royals flash leather, particularly in the outfield, and boast a shutdown bullpen.

But it's a much more nuanced series. For one, these are not the 2014 hitless wonder Royals. That team called three infield singles a rally. This team boasts six above-average starters with the bat and the same basepath scorchers who ran opposing teams ragged last season. Three Royals bopped 20+ home runs.

At the same time, KC's starting rotation is more like five set-up men for the vaunted bullpen. Absent James Shields, last year's ace, its ERA has jumped 30 points.

On the other side of the ledger, the Blue Jays are more than wallbangers. Their moundsmen finished fifth best in the AL, anchored by Cy Young candidate David Price and supported by Marcus Stroman, who posted a 1.67 ERA in 27 frames following return from injury. The bullpen of Roberto Osuna, Aaron Sanchez and Liam Hendricks (Brett Cecil and his sub-one WHIP is on the shelf) gave opponents fits, posting a 137 ERA+.

The real contrast between these two teams, besides the admitted difference in home run power, is the bench. Kansas City's cupboard is largely bare. It contains two defensive replacement/speedsters -- Terrence Gore and Jarrod Dyson, and that's it. As a result, manager Ned Yost simply prints out a pdf of his daily lineup each night. Toronto, by contrast, platoons Chris Colabello and Justin Smoak at first, with the backup on any given night serving as first bench option.

The Royals are more narrowly suited to their home park but the Blue Jays have the superior roster. Both teams have shown grit by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory -- the Royals in Game Three and the Blue Jays in the series. There's no telling which starving fan base gets rewarded with a World Series appearance -- and that's the way we like it.

Reports of Their Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Woe are the Yankees, doomed to oblivion by home futility before unsold sections, the excavation of their captain, the looming Hurler from Hell and a lineup sucking wind through a toothpick. Their fans, conditioned to World Series entitlement, are tearing out hair and rending garments.

The end is nigh.

Sure, but...

True, Derek Jeter, a bronze bust-in-waiting and several wins a year better than a replacement level player like Eduardo Nunez, will watch in a cast. 

True, three of the next five games are in Detroit, and two of them will be pitched for the Tigers by the baddest thrower on Planet Earth.

True, the middle of the order is waving at distant pitches -- in the dirt, around their chest, in the visiting dugout. Nick Swisher is 4-for-26. Alex Rodriguez is 3-for-23 with 12 strikeouts. Curtis Granderson is 3-for-26. And for you momentum fans, Robinson Cano entered the playoffs hitting .615/.628/1.026 in his last nine games. In the seven since, he's 0-for-26. 

Things look bleak.

But baseball is a fickle game. Justin Verlander gets strafed now and then. Guys break 0-for-26 skids with multi-homer games. Whole lineups slump together and then revive as one. Two wins -- one, two --  change everything. Then suddenly home field has returned. The crowds come back. The other team's on its heels. And CC takes the ball.

The modern era of Yankee dominance began in 1996 when the post-Mattingly Bombers met the defending champ Braves in the Fall Classic and got hosed by Maddux and Glavine in the first two games. Then they came back to win the Series in six. They won again in '98, '99 and '00, won the AL in '01 and '03 and took the championship again in '09.

More recently, like last week, the Giants dropped a pair at home to the Reds and came back to sweep a trio of road games to advance to the NLCS. It can happen.

New York remains the best team still standing, wobbly though they've been. That lineup can't remain unhinged forever. Abandon hope all ye who enter here? Okay, unless they win Tuesday.