Royals vs. Yankees ALDS Preview
An old foe emerges as the Royals try to continue their run to a title.
If you are of a certain age, there’s something that probably borders between calming and unsettling when you see that the Royals and Yankees are set to meet in the postseason. I am not of that age, but I grew up in a household that didn’t refer to the Yankees without an unsavory adjective put ahead of their team name. These two teams met in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1980, which happened to be the first four playoff appearances for the Royals in franchise history. The Yankees got the better of KC the first three times, but the fourth time was the charm. Now we’re all hoping the fifth time is too.
The Yankees had a bit of a chaotic regular season in some ways. They were never behind first place by more than three games at any point, but they did go from 4.5 up in early June to that three-game deficit within a month. That was their cold point in the season. It actually came right at the end of their series in Kansas City that ended with a Maikel Garcia walkoff. They were 49-21 before that game, and including the loss, were 7-18 over their next 25 games. It feels like every single team has had a stretch like that this season. But they came out of it and finished the year pretty strong, earning the top overall seed in the AL playoffs.