Royals vs. Angels: Each Team's Key to Victory in ALDS Game 2

If the rest of the American League Division Series between the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels plays out like it did in Game 1, there will be a celebration at Kauffman Stadium. With Game 2 on tap for Friday night, we have pieced together keys to victory for both teams in light of what we saw on Thursday.  

The Royals pitching was able to keep Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Howie Kendrick and Josh Hamilton in check, allowing their offense enough time to get a big home run from Mike Moustakas. It also didn't hurt that Ned Yost largely stayed out of the way this time. 

The Angels are baffling to look at, because on paper, with the exception of Trout, there is nothing that stands out about this team. Yet they finished with the best record in baseball during the regular season, which doesn't mean anything in the playoffs. 

All of this makes for a fascinating, compelling series and one that will be full of drama. We have all the information you need to get set for Game 2. 

Dear Mike Scioscia, Stop Getting In The Way!

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

Angels manager Mike Scioscia has made a lot of fans over the years based on the perception that he's made the playoffs and won a World Series despite not having the most talented teams in the league. If you actually watch the games, though, it's not hard to see that he often does more harm than good. 

A perfect example of Scioscia's knack for over-managing came in Game 1. The Angels had 26 sacrifice bunts during the regular season, 24th in baseball, so naturally their manager calls for three of them in three straight innings. 

From innings eight to 10, the Angels got the leadoff and go-ahead run on base. Instead of letting his team do what it's done all year, Scioscia called for three sacrifice bunts. The strategy failed each time, because the guys coming up with a runner in scoring position failed to convert. 

There is certainly blame to be placed on the hitters for not coming through in this spot, but take a look at how the run probability changes when you have a runner on first with nobody out and a runner on second with one out:

Situation	Run Expectancy/Inning
Runner on 1st, No Out	0.8182
Runner on 2nd, One Out	0.8873

You are sacrificing an out to gain a seven percent chance to score a single run. On top of that, Scioscia took the bat out of Erick Aybar's hands twice in the seventh and ninth innings. Aybar isn't a home run threat, but he did have 30 doubles in the regular season and is a great contact hitter, with just 62 strikeouts in 589 at-bats. 

Instead, Scioscia decided that he wanted to bring up Josh Hamilton in a spot where Ned Yost was able to bring in two lefties. 

The eighth inning was even more baffling, as Scioscia not only tried to sacrifice Kole Calhoun, who had a .450 slugging percentage and 17 homers in 493 at-bats, but he also did it to put catcher Chris Iannetta, who isn't winning any sprinting contests, in scoring position. 

Calhoun wound up popping out on a 3-1 count, so that only makes an already stupid decision look worse in hindsight.

The Angels played one way during the regular season, hitting 490 extra-base hits, then their manager decided he wanted to play an entirely different way in the first playoff game. The results were not surprising, so it's on him to hide his impulse instincts to put the team in a position to win. 

Don't Give Yordano Ventura A Long Leash

Tony Dejak/Associated Press

Speaking of managers who have a knack for getting in their team's way, Yost has been fun to watch because of the entertainment he provides. If you are a Royals fan, it can be maddening to see the manager at work. 

However, with struggling rookie Yordano Ventura making his second postseason appearance and first career playoff start, this could be one instance where Yost's over-managing is helpful. He made a mistake going to Ventura in the Wild Card Game, as Brandon Moss had 21 of his 25 homers this season against right-handed pitching. 

The Royals have a chance to steal both games in Los Angeles because the Angels don't have a deep lineup. If Trout, Pujols and Kendrick aren't hitting, as they weren't in Game 1, it's going to be hard for the team to score runs. 

Ventura has the power stuff to make this lineup look miserable once again, though 30 walks in 62 innings since August is not encouraging. The Royals, despite what they did against Oakland, don't have an offense capable of coming back from a huge deficit in a short time. 

One reason you can't criticize Yost for all his bunting excesses is because the Royals aren't built to hit three-run homers. They need to manufacture runs however possible, which means stealing bases and sacrifice bunts. 

If the Royals are able to get a lead early, Yost has to be ready to play the bullpen matchups at the first sign of trouble for Ventura. He's got a deep relief corps to work with, including three arms with an ERA under 2.00 and another in Danny Duffy, whose 2.53 ERA came mostly as a starter. 

The problem with Yost is he's so stubborn. He's been quoted by Andy McCullough of The Kansas City Star as saying that he didn't want to put in Kelvin Herrera in the sixth inning of a tied game with the bases loaded because he's the seventh-inning guy. 

In the postseason, where every out gets magnified and every win is so crucial in a short series, Yost has to be flexible with his bullpen in order for the Royals to head home with a 2-0 series lead. 

Stats via Baseball Reference and FanGraphs

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