Billy The Kid had lawman Pat Garrett. Dr. Richard Kimbell had Lieutenant Phillip Gerard. Great White sharks have remoras.
The Guardians? They have the Kansas City Royals.
They are the tail that can’t lost. The persistent gumshoe who keeps getting closer and closer.
In the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Butch and Sundance were on the run for several days. They kept looking behind them to see a posse’s dust cloud in the distance.
“Who are those guys?” asks Butch (Paul Newman) to Sundance (Robert Redford) in agitation and wonder.
Manager Stephen Vogt isn’t saying that publicly, but he has to be thinking it. As well as the Guardians have been playing, they can’t shake the Royals.
The Guardians are 34-17 entering Saturday night’s game against the Angels at Angel Stadium. This isn’t just a good start, it’s a legitimate bid for contention. They’ve won seven straight and 10 of their last 11 games.
But they entered Saturday night with just a 1 1/2 game lead because the Royals keep winning as well. All this from a team that lost 106 games last year.
The Royals enter Saturday’s game against the Rays with a 33-19 record. They, like the Guardians, have won seven straight. While Cleveland has won 10 of its last 11, KC has won nine of its last 11.
Kansas City has been dogging the Guardians by that same 1 1/2 game deficit for 10 straight games. They are the object in Cleveland’s rearview mirror that is closer than it appears.
“It’s way too early to start looking at the division,” said Vogt. “We can only control us. Division races, really you start looking at them after the All-Star break. . .maybe in August.
“If we take care of our business, we’ll be where we want to be at the end of the year. When I do look at the standings, the thing I see is that it’s going to be a really fun year in the AL Central.”
Is it fun whistling past the graveyard at midnight? Maybe.
Things will start to sort themselves out when these two teams meet for the first time in a three-game series at Progressive Field from June 4 through June 6. They’ll meet four more times at the end of June as well at Kauffman Stadium.
The similarities between the two teams stare you in the face.
Royals owner John Sherman got his start in the baseball business by being a minority owner with the Guardians. Royals manager Matt Quatraro was one of former manager Terry Francona’s hitting coaches in Cleveland.
On the field the Guardians may have best player in the AL in Jose Ramirez. If Ramirez is No. 1, Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr., isn’t far behind.
Statistically speaking, these teams are as close as the standings suggest in a number of American League team stats.
- Runs: The Royals rank second with 255. The Guards rank third at 254.
- Homers: The Guards rank sixth at 58. The Royals rank 11th with 52.
- Stolen bases: The Royals rank second with 53. The Guards rank third with 49.
- OPS (onbase+slugging): The Royals rank fourth at .724. The Guards rank sixth at .713.
- Walks: The Guards rank 10th at 154. The Royals rank 13th at 143.
- Strikeouts: The Royals rank 14th with 360. The Guards rank 13th at 381.
There are similarities on the pitching side as well for the two AL teams.
- ERA: The Guardians rank third at 3.29. The Royals rank fourth at 3.36.
- Starting rotation: The Royals rank third at 24-12 with a 2.99 ERA. The Guardians rank eighth at 17-12 with a 3.85 ERA.
- Bullpens: Guardians rank first at 17-5 with 18 saves and a 2.53 ERA. The Royals rank 11th at 9-7 with 16 saves and a 4.05 ERA.
In 2023 the Royals used 36 different pitchers, including 23 starters. The bullpen had a 5.23 ERA, the worst in the AL. The rotation had a 5.12 ERA, the second worst in the AL. Changes were needed and changes were made.
They signed free agents Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. Lugo is 8-1 with a 1.74 ERA in 11 starts. He’s struck out 61 and walked 15 in 72 1/3 innings.
Wacha is 4-4 with a 4.45 ERA in 10 starts.
