Orioles-Royals Wild Card Series preview: Bullpen

[Henderson]

A lot of us in these parts still hear Royals and postseason and get nightmarish visions of the 2014 American League Championship Series, in which Kansas City knocked the AL East Champion Orioles out in four games.  Well, that was a decade ago, and these are not the same Royals who won two AL pennants and a World Series with All-Stars Greg Holland, Wade Davis, and Kelvin Herrera locking down the late innings.  Then again, for their part, Im sure the 2024 Orioles would love to have Brad Brach, Darren ODay and Zack Britton in the back end of their bullpen, an unexpected Detroit loss on Sunday to the 121-loss White Sox, the Royals overtook the Tigers for the ALs fifth seed, making them the Orioles opponent in the Wild Card series.  Technically, this is a better matchup for Baltimore than Detroit, against whom they dropped four of six games.  The Orioles won the season series against the Royals, 4-2, although in run differential it was mighty close: 29-27 Orioles.  Because this is a preview of the bullpens, Im pleased to tell you that two of those wins came courtesy of walkoff hits: on April 1, Jordan Westburg homered off Royals reliever Nick Anderson, and on April 3, James McCann singled home two runs against closer Will , I guess its been a long time since even April 2024.  Nick Anderson is actually now in the Orioles farm system, having been released by Kansas City in July, and Will Smith last pitched a month ago, being sidelined with back spasms.  Those two, along with Chris Stratton and John Schreiber, were actually new spring additions to the KC roster meant to stabilize the bullpen, but these moves didnt work out as most of the year, in fact, the Royals bullpen would have been an easy punching bag.  From the beginning of the season through the month of August, the unit had an MLB-sixth-worst ERA of 4. 42 and struck out fewer hitters than all but while September was a tough month for Orioles relievers, the opposite has happened to the Royals.  To quote our sister site, Royals Review:[While the offense has gone in the tank in September, leading to two separate seven-game losing streaks, the bullpen has quietly become a strength in the last month of the season.  This month, Royals relievers have a 3. 25 ERA 11th-best in baseball) a 2. 75 FIP third-best), and most amazingly they have become a bullpen that can miss bats with the fourth-best strikeout rate in the is Anderson, and down with injury are Smith, Stratton and the struggling James McArthur with a 4. 92 ERA).  We wont see former Oriole Hunter Harvey, either, whos sidelined with back tightness and also had a 6. 35 ERA for remaining throwers are pitching much better.  Lucas Erceg, acquired from the Athletics at the trade deadline, had several bad months in Oakland this season, but hes got a 3. 18 ERA and a 0. 79 WHIP this month.  Onetime starter Kris Bubic has rounded into form, with a 2. 67 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 30. 1 innings since being reactivated after Tommy John last year Curt Blefary Jersey.  The 66 Daniel Lynch IV, a converted lefty starter, spent most of the year in Triple-A but he hasnt allowed a run in September over 17. 1 out this outfit are Carlos Hernndez, who has a 100-mph fastball and consistency problems, Angel Zerpa, a groundball-inducing lefty who had a 9. 82 ERA in August, and Sam Long, one of the few recently struggling Royals relievers, with an elevated 5. 56 ERA this month. A few of these names are likely to be replaced with a trio of right-handed starters the Royals wont need in the three-game Wild Card series: Alec Marsh 9-9, 4. 53 ERA, 1 Matt Harvey Jersey. 26 WHIP in 129 IP), RHP Michael Lorenzen 7-6, 3. 31 ERA, 1. 24 WHIP in 130. 1 IP), and perhaps Brady Singer 9-13, 3. 71 ERA, 1. 27 WHIP in 179. 2 IP). The Royals bullpen could crash to earth after their hot September, but it still sounds like the Orioles want to score early and often off KC starters if they canparticularly as their own relief corps has been shaky down the stretch, with the third-worst September ERA in baseball, at 5.  Kansas City, the Orioles will be trying to add by subtracting some of the worst September offenders: Craig Kimbrel 22. 09 ERA, released on Sept.  18), Bryan Baker 7. 71 ERA, optioned Sept.  28), Burch Smith 8. 44 ERA, placed on the IL Sept.  20), and Cole Irvin 6. 75 ERA, DFAd Sept.  15). They cant snap and make all their problems disappear, though.  Lefty Cionel Prez has a bloated 9. 00 ERA in his last 11 outings.  Two guys the Orioles have tried to use to fill the Flix Bautista-sized hole at closer, Yennier Cano and trade deadline pickup Seranthony Domnguez, have an identical 6. 43 mark in September.  Still, for lack of other options, its unlikely these three wont make the postseason Orioles relievers who are pitching well of late are Jacob Webb a 3. 00 ERA in his last six outings), Gregory Soto a 2. 08 ERA and 11. 42 K/9 in September, and looking much less wild than he did in August), and lefty Keegan Akin a 2. 38 ERA and 11. 91 K/9 in his last eleven outings).  Danny Coulombe, reactivated on Sept.  20 after bone chip surgery, couldnt be joining the team at a better time: he hasnt allowed a run in four appearances in , these two units are close, and neither is particularly distinguished.  Kansas City has a slight advantage in reliever ERA 4. 13 to 4. 24) and a nearly-identical 3. 90 FIP the Orioles is 3. 89).  The Orioles relief corps has allowed more home runs 1 https://www.oriolesathletics.com/collections/reggie-jackson-jersey. 03 per game to Kansas Citys 0. 89), but Baltimore relievers have been much more prolific in strikeouts 9. 15 K/9 to a third-worst 8. 04 for KC). Overall, neither of these two contenders should hope this series is defined by the strength of its bullpen.  Hopefully the Orioles build up large leads early and give these guys an easy assignment. <br/><br/><br/>