ALCS Schedule 2014: Breaking Down Remainder of Orioles vs. Royals

The Kansas City Royals have won the first two games of the American League Championship Series, but the Baltimore Orioles are not going away anytime soon.

As they have been doing all postseason long, the Royals came through with clutch hits late to break late ties in Games 1 and 2. This put the squad halfway to the World Series as just two more wins can give them the pennant.

Still, the Orioles have played well throughout the season and dominated the Detroit Tigers in the previous round, meaning the talent is there to turn things around. The wins will have to come quickly, though, or the team will be going home before anticipated.

Here is a look at the upcoming schedule for the rest of the series and a breakdown of what to expect:

Game	Date	Matchup	Time (ET)	TV
3	Monday, Oct. 13	Orioles at Royals	8 p.m.	TBS
4	Tuesday, Oct. 14	Orioles at Royals	8 p.m.	TBS
5*	Wednesday, Oct. 15	Orioles at Royals	4 p.m.	TBS
6*	Friday, Oct. 17	Royals at Orioles	8 p.m.	TBS
7*	Saturday, Oct. 18	Royals at Orioles	8 p.m.	TBS

The Orioles might be getting a gift in Game 3 in the form of a familiar face: Jeremy Guthrie. Royals manager Ned Yost will put the veteran on the mound to start the game, as Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com explains:

While he did not play a full season, Danny Duffy had the best ERA of any Royals starter with a 2.53 mark, while Guthrie's ERA stood at 4.13. He does not strike out a lot of batters and relies on the defense behind him to make plays.

The former Orioles pitcher twice led the league in losses while playing for Baltimore and has not improved too much. This makes it a strange decision for the start in a big game in Kansas City.

Baltimore will try to take advantage of this and finally get a win. Manager Buck Showalter is doing his best to keep the team confident with this message:

With the way this team can score runs, this seems to be a good chance to cut the series deficit to one as long as Wei-Yin Chen can handle his role as the starter.

At this point, the biggest question is whether the Orioles bullpen can step up after a terrible start to the series. 

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

Baltimore ranked sixth in the majors during the regular season with a 3.10 reliever ERA in 2014, but key members like Darren O'Day, Brian Matusz and Zach Britton have struggled in this series. Britton is especially disappointing with his rare appearance, as noted by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports:

Britton's second appearance was just as bad when he gave up a run and two hits in one inning. The closer had 37 saves during the season, but he might not be as trustworthy at this point as the team had hoped.

If this bullpen cannot turn things around, the squad could be in serious trouble.

Still, a lot of the credit so far has to go to the Royals lineup for coming through when many had doubted them. The unit ranked last in the majors in home runs and mostly relied on speed and timely hitting to score runs. However, Jesse Spector of Sporting News noted the series has not gone as expected:

No matter how they get runs, the Royals have found ways to get on the board in big moments, which has led to wins. As long as the hits keep coming, so will the victories.

The rest of the series is certain to be exciting, no matter who wins. Kansas City certainly has the advantage after winning twice on the road, but it would be a mistake to say it is over.

Expect some more great hitting performances and high-scoring games to complete a series that should last six or seven games.

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