MLB Playoffs: The American League Wild Card game on Tuesday has Jon Lester and the Oakland Athletics visiting James Shields and the Kansas City Royals. This game that can be seen on TBS will have the winner playing the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Division Series. Let’s look at this game on Tuesday and baseball playoff picks.
Baseball Playoff Odds
Royals -110, total 6.5 under
Royals Playoff Drought Ends
The Kansas City Royals last made the playoffs when they won the World Series in 1985. The drought ends on Tuesday. “I thought I’d see it again, I just didn’t know when,” said George Brett. The Royals will be sending their ace, James Shields to the mound on Tuesday. Shields was very good down the stretch as he finished with a 2.31 ERA in his last five starts. “When I came over here, I knew exactly what was going on,” said Shields, “I knew that this city’s been wanting a championship team for a long time, and a playoff team. Hopefully we did the city proud. We’ve got a long way to go still, but we’re going to keep grinding.”
A’s counting on Lester
The A’s made a very controversial trade to get Jon Lester from Boston but if he wins on Tuesday the trade will look a lot better. The A’s lost their clean up hitter Yoenis Cespedes and the offense has struggled but Lester has done well going 6-4 with a 2.35 ERA in 11 starts with the A’s. Lester is 6-4 with a 2.11 ERA in 11 starts in the playoffs. “He’s the top pitcher in the game right now to have in that spot,” said A’s outfielder Josh Reddick.
Game Notes
The Royals won five of the seven meetings this season. Lester is 9-3 in the last ten seasons against the Royals with a 1.84 ERA. Shields is 6-4 in his career against the A’s with a 3.82 ERA. The Royals have won six of the last ten at home against the A’s with two of the last three going over.
Baseball Playoff Picks
We’ll look for the A’s to get the road win on Tuesday.
