Royals finish 108-54, Playoffs start on Friday!!
10/06/2011
Welcome to the big time folks. A day after finishing off the 2011 regular season with a sweep of the Red Sox, the Royals are ready to open the ALDS against the Toronto Blue Jays.
The Royals enter the five game series riding a seven game winning streak to finish the season at 108-54. A very impressive 22 more wins than last year and they won the Central Division by 26 games. The largest win in Central Division history.
The Blue Jays stumbled late in the season and instead of heading in as the AL East Champions, they enter as the Wild Card team. The Blue Jays finished the season 93-69, one game behind the Orioles for the division crown.
The Royals and Blue Jays met seven times this season with the Blue Jays winning the season series 5-2. So the Royals will enter with the best record between the two but the Blue Jays will have the mental edge.
"I have no worries about these guys. I know they will go out there and show everybody why they were the best team in the majors this year. We are hot at the moment and Toronto is struggling a bit." said Manager Antonio DeLeon.
But for the fans, Game 1 will showcase pure lighting from the mound. The Blue Jays will be starting the 3-time Cy Young Award Winner in
Roy Halladay and the Royals will start their Cy Young Award Winner in
Joe Blanton.
For the third straight year Halladay won 21 games and lost eight games along the way. His 2.17 ERA in 265.2 innings pitched was tops in the American League. Blanton finished 19-3 for the year with a 2.30 ERA in 223.1 innings pitched.
Now after Game 1, the Royals seem to have the slight advantage. The Blue Jays had only two winning pitchers this year with the second being
Kevin Correia(20-7, 3.35). The Royals on the other hand had every starting pitcher win at least ten games and every one of the them has a winning record. The Royals
Blake Hawksworth has the third best ERA in the AL with a 2.86. Halladay, Blanton and Hawksworth were the only three pitchers to have a sub 3.00 ERA this season.
The Blue Jays might have two twenty game winners on their staff but that's about all they have that is better than the Royals. Here is a breakdown of the team batting and pitching stats for the year.
Now we all know in the playoffs, none of this matters but the Royals are clearly a class about the Blue Jays and with everyone healthy, this series should go in the Royals favor. Lets go Royals!!!
2011 Playoff Bracket:
