The Kansas City Royals are set to play host to the Houston Astros starting Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium as the American League Division Series is right around the corner.
Taking the bump for Houston will be 28-year-old RHP Collin McHugh going up against Royals 24-year-old RHP Yordano Ventura.
The Houston Astros claimed the final spot in the playoffs last night with a 3-0 win over RHP Masahiro Tanaka and the New York Yankees in the AL Wild Card game which was played in front of a sold out crowd including the one and and only Billy Crystal.
In the final week of the 2015 regular season, it was a real nail biter for first place in the AL West as the Texas Rangers played host to the Astros from the other side of town at Globe Life Park in Arlington.
As the two stood close apart upon the division standings chart, it was up to one team to start showing the fire, giving whatever they had left and rightfully so for a chance at postseason ball for the first time since 2008.
After the series had reached its conclusion, the Astros played their final set at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona where the Arizona Diamondbacks played host to a high-flying team looking to show the D-Backs what the club is all about, showing just how much they deserve to be competing in October baseball.
On the Royals side of things, they became the first team to clinch a playoff spot, having done so ahead of the final week. Kansas City clinched a spot while taking on the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on the 25th of September.
This also marked the club's first division title in 30 years, dating back to 1985.
Back to the Astros, Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal notes that making it into the postseason and then advancing to the divisional round has “brought a measure of validation” to the Astros‘ all-out rebuild. “Your work speaks for itself,” said Astros GM Jeff Luhnow after last night’s win. “There’s always critics along the way if you’re trying to do something different or something unique. But we had confidence that we were on the right path, and I think the results are starting to show.”
As noted by Costa as well, those who have been acquired by the organization in blockbuster deals have not yet reached the majors, making for a very bright future as many of these guys are very promising, as said by GM Jeff Luhnow.
Houston did not end up clinching a division title as the Rangers took that ways from them, however, they did not stop playing the game with heart and passion, which has helped them make it to where they are now.
This should be quite the series, as we see two rebuilt teams go at it with stellar rotations on both ends, making the series just that much more tense, entertaining, yet filled with loads of excitement. Kansas City ended their miserable drought last season and look to start the process of reclaiming the AL Pennant once again, while Houston is looking to put the previous decade full of misery in the rearview mirror and kick start a future full of promise.