The Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals continue the MLB playoffs on Friday with the ALCS and Game 1 is live from TBS starting up at 8 pm ET and streaming online from MLB.com and the TBS.com website as the O's and KC matchup in the American League Championship Series and the game has James Shields and Chris Tillman in the pitching matchup.
The Orioles come into the game after winning in a sweep over the Tigers and they know how to mash and players like Adam Jones and Nelson Cruz will be key. Chris Davis was left off the roster and now the team has the speedy Royals coming in. The Royals have not lost in this postseason and that is amazing because they haven't been in the playoffs in nearly three decades and now they are four wins from the World Series. The last time the team was there Back to the Future was the top movie in America and now they are looking to steal a game from the Orioles.
James Shields is the ace of the team and his trade from the Rays two years ago was a big move that helped the team get here. Ned Yost took out James Shields from the wild card game and nearly blew it against the Athletics, but KC held on and now they are in position to advance. The team is into the ALCS against another team that hasn't been there in years and in the NL it's the exact opposite. The Giants and the Cardinals have been the dominating postseason teams and now they will matchup in the NLCS.
The Orioles came into the playoffs after running away with the American League East and now they have home field advantage in this series. The AL team will have home field in the World Series and that could make things very interesting if it's Cardinals against royals. On top of the fact that KC would have home field, that matchup would be awesome and interesting because both teams are from Missouri. The Royals have gotten it done in the playoffs with offense after not scoring much during the season and the play of Eric Hosmer has been fantastic.
The Orioles ranked in the top 10 this season in offense and they were eighth in the league in runs and ninth in batting average, while the Royals were ranked 14th in runs. The team was fourth in batting average and they have really turned it on in the playoffs, totally outscoring the Angels in three games and now they matchup with the Orioles. The first two games will be at Camden Yards before shifting to Kansas City.
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