Kansas City Royals Not the Only Ones Coming Home for ALDS Game 3

The Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels will return to Kansas City on Sunday to continue the American League Division Series. The Royals return home to Kauffman Stadium with a commanding 2-0 lead and the hopes of celebrating a berth in the American League Championship Series.

The format of the division series features two games in Los Angeles, two in Kansas City and one more in Los Angeles. After winning both games on the road, the Royals come home looking to win one more game. The Royals are not the only ones who consider Kansas City home, though.

Albert Pujols, the Angels' highly paid superstar first baseman, moved to Kansas City as a teenager. He attended Fort Osage High School in nearby Independence, Missouri, and he went on to attend Maple Woods Community College in North Kansas City.

St. Louis is where Pujols established his dominance in Major League Baseball. Kansas City is where he developed into the person and athlete fans see today.

The Angels' inability to win either game at home came in large part because of the ineffectiveness of their three big run producers. Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout have produced only one hit in 25 at-bats in the first two games. Pujols had the lone run batted in for the trio.

But Pujols has always seemed to perform well when he returns to Kansas City. He has produced a .329 batting average over 43 games at Kauffman Stadium, and he holds a 1.054 on-base plus slugging percentage in Kansas City. In ballparks that he has played in at least 30 games, he has produced a higher OPS only in Pittsburgh and Atlanta. 

Pujols has hit 14 home runs at Kauffman Stadium over 170 at-bats. He has driven in 42 runs and scored 34 more. Add in 11 doubles, and Pujols produces an extra-base hit in every 6.8 at-bats. The ballpark that was closest to his childhood home is certainly one of his favorites to play in.

Pujols has left tickets for family and friends, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com:

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He arrived here late Saturday afternoon, as the first baseman of an Angels team down 2-0 in a best-of-five American League Division Series to the upstart, hometown Royals. And he's left about 80 tickets for family and friends to Sunday's do-or-die Game 3, 4:30 p.m. PT on TBS.

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The Royals are hoping to pop champagne in Kansas City for the second time in less than a week. Standing in their way is arguably the best professional baseball player to have grown up in the area.

Hometown or not, though, there is little doubt who the majority of the fans will be rooting for.

All statistics in the above article were sourced from Baseball-Reference.com

Bill Ivie is the founder of i70baseball.com. Follow him on Twitter to discuss baseball year-round.