Alright, folks, let me paint a picture for you here. We're out at Kauffman Stadium - a diamond that's known to be a touch kinder to our batters than our brave ball slingers, and we're getting ready for a face-off between the Detroit Tigers and the Kansas City Royals. Gather 'round, because this is gonna be good!
Striding up to the mound for the Detroit Tigers, we have Casey Mize, who's been sporting a less than stellar 4.69 ERA this season. Looks like the man's got his work cut out for him. Kansas City's got one Cole Ragans coming in hot with a 3.44 ERA, and a 11.2 K/9 over 30 appearances. Casey's going to need a bit of that feline resilience to keep up with the Ragans fastball ballet today.
A peek at our rosters shows we've got some heavy hitters ready to make some noise. On the Tigers' side, we have Zach McKinstry, Colt Keith, and Riley Greene putting their pretty stellar numbers to the test today. Just for the sake of fair number savvy, the Royals aren't exactly going to be left in the dust with Hunter Renfroe, Salvador Perez and Bobby Witt Jr's solid performances this season.
Recently, the rivalry between these two teams has been pretty neck and neck, with the Tigers clinching a win in their last meeting. The overall season matchup, however, favors the Royals with 82 wins compared to the Tiger's 77. The recent form of both teams points to a rather closely-fought battle with an equal share of wins and losses.
Taking all of this in stride, sports lovers, my prediction isn't one that every Tiger fan would want to hear, but remember, games can turn over and surprises do occur in sports!
Albert's Prediction: Kansas City Royals by 2