Once again, the battle for I-70 is about to get underway. However, this season, it’s going Hatfield’s and McCoy’s style, as the week will be literally a trek up and down the highway for one of the few back-to-back “natural rival” home-and-home interleague series. In the first half of the series, the Cardinals will go to Kansas City to see the Royals, in the final leg of an eight-game road spin.

The series between the Cardinals and Royals is always an interesting one. It’s a matchup of heavy fan interest, as there are the underlying points of interstate relationships, the perceived “superiority issues” of the Cardinals vs. the long-suffering Royals, and as it will be forever, the aftermath of the 1985 World Series; a storyline that’s just as sore of a subject today as it was 28 years ago.

Here are the stories of the two teams as they face off for the first half of the series. Where they have been, where they are going and what’s at stake currently.

The Cardinals coming in: The Cardinals enter with an MLB best record of 32-17, and 1.5 games ahead in the National League Central. They are coming off of a very competitive series with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which capped with a second consecutive win over their ace Clayton Kershaw. Overall, the team has not lost a series, nor recorded consecutive losses, in nearly a month. Their 17 road wins are the best mark in the Majors as well.

Over the past week, the run production load has been diverse, with Daniel Descalso leading the team in runs driven in with six, most coming on his grand slam in San Diego last Tuesday. David Freese and Allen Craig are both tied for second with five RBI….Yadier Molina enters the series third in the NL in hitting with a .339 average…Pete Kozma turned in a 4 for 4 performance on Sunday with three doubles, including one with the bases loaded to pull the club ahead….Seth Maness recorded his first loss of his career on Saturday evening, but rebounded to produce a bases loaded double play on Sunday to get his fourth win of the season, all coming in relief and within the last month.

The Royals coming in: Kansas City enters with a season mark of 21-26 and in fourth place in the American League Central, a disappointing turn for a team that was largely believed to be on the brink of a breakthrough coming into the season. They also enter on the heels of four-game sweep at home from the Los Angeles Angels, and overall are on a five-game losing streak. They have not won a home series since May 3-6 vs. the Chicago White Sox

Alex Gordon is having perhaps his best season to date. The left fielder is hitting .335, with six home runs and 30 RBI. His average is fifth best in the AL….Catcher Salvador Perez is hitting .311, with four multi-hit games in his last 10….overall, the Royals are hitting .262 as club, ninth best in baseball, but have managed only 190 runs as a result, the third worse total in the AL.

Pitching Matchups

Monday (1:10)—James Shields (2-5) vs. Adam Wainwright (6-3): Monday’s matchup is a showdown of both club’s aces and two of the better arms in all of baseball. Shields has pitched in perhaps the toughest luck of any starter in the AL. Despite having surrendering only six runs over his last four starts, he has taken the loss in three of four. Wainwright threw 7.1 innings in his last outing to win his sixth game and lower his ERA to 2.38, sixth best in the NL.

Tuesday (7:10)—Ervin Santana (3-4) vs. Tyler Lyons (1-0): Santana surrendered four home runs in his return start against his former club in Anaheim his last time out. For the season, he has turned in a 3.14 ERA, but is also a loser of his last three outings. Lyons won his Major League debut on Wednesday, filling in for the injured Jaime Garcia. The 25-year-old threw seven innings, allowing only four hits, one walk and a single run.

Injury Impact—St. Louis: Out for Season: Rafeal Furcal (Elbow), Jason Motte (Elbow), Jaime Garcia (Shoulder). 60 Day DL: Chris Carpenter (Shoulder); 15-Day DL: Fernando Salas (Shoulder), Jake Westbrook (Elbow), John Gast (Shoulder). Kansas City: Out for Season: Felipe Paulino (Elbow). 60 Day DL: Danny Duffy (Elbow). 15 Day DL: Jarrod Dyson (Ankle).

A look back: The Cardinals won the season series in 2012, 4-2. They outscored the Royals 45-29. On the season, the Royals finished 72-90, good for third place in the AL Central, while the Cardinals finished in second place in the NL Central with an 88-74 record. All-time, the Cardinals lead the series 48-38, and have met once outside of the regular season, in the 1985 World Series, which the Royals won 4-3.

News and Notes:

-          The series is a two-and-two spin, with two games in Kansas City, followed by two in St. Louis. This will be the first interleague games of the season for both clubs.

-          Monday is “Armed Forces Day” at Kaufmann Stadium, and miniature American flags will be given away. Tuesday is “T-Shirt Tuesday”, with a shirt giveaway for the first 10,000 fans.

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Beginning on Memorial Day, the St. Louis Cardinals-Kansas City Royals rivalry will be rekindled in the 2013 season with a four-game home-and-home series. The first two games of the series will be played in Kansas City on Monday and Tuesdaywhile the final two games of the series will be played down the road in St. Louis. This unique four-game set is similar to the Battle of the Beltway, which will feature the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals playing a home-and-home.

Entering the weekend, the St. Louis Cardinals had the best record in Major League Baseball and led the N.L. Central. Their pitching staff, which has allowed the fewest runs in the majors, and a potent offense, which has scored the third most runs in the National League, primarily drives this. One of the most pleasant surprises for the Cards has been the performance of Shelby Miller who boasts a 5-3 record with a 1.74 ERA. Entering this year, Miller had only started one game and pitched thirteen career innings, yet has been able to vex opposing hitters so far in 2013.

In the other dugout, the Kansas City Royals will look to continue on their surprising start and shorten the gap in the A.L. Central behind the division-leading Cleveland Indians. Despite dropping four of the last five series, the Royals remain in third place in the division. For the most part the team has struggled to score runs, but has been led by a strong pitching staff. Alex Gordon has been one of the sole bright spots on offense and leads the team in average, home runs, RBI’s, and runs. Pitchers Jeremy Guthrie, Ervin Santana, and James Shields headline a staff, which has allowed the second-fewest runs in the American League. Despite boasting a 2-5 record, Shields has a minuscule .96 WHIP to go along with a 2.47 ERA on the year and has been primarily hindered by a lack of run support.

 The first two games of the series in Kansas City currently carry an average price well above the average price for Royals tickets this year ($54). Monday’s Memorial Day afternoon start has tickets going for an average of $80 with a get-in price of $16. This $80 average is 48% above the home season average. Game two’s tickets are currently being sold at an average of $70 with the least expensive tickets costing $15. The prices for these two games are 14% less than the games played in Kansas City between these two teams last year, but are 34% more expensive than 2010, and 38% more expensive than in 2011.

The final two games of the series in St. Louis are going for $42 and $45 respectively. This season, the average price for Cardinals tickets is $68 and the prices for these two games between the teams will be 38% and 34% below that average. Tickets are still readily available for the two games and can be acquired for a low price of $6 for Wednesday and $8 for Thursday. These prices reflect a continued downward trend for tickets in St. Louis between the Cardinals and Royals as the prices are 24% less expensive than 2011 and 16% less expensive from just one year ago.

The battle for the Midwest will feature two teams heading in two different directions. The Cardinals will be seeking to stretch out their divisional lead and improve upon the best record in Major League Baseball while the Royals will be trying to turn around a recent slide which put a damper upon one of the most surprising starts in the majors.

The Royals wrap up their California road trip this weekend with a three game series with Oakland.  With the Tigers getting their series with the red hot Rangers off to a humiliating start, this could be a great chance for the Royals to close the one game lead in the American League Central.  Here are the matchups by the numbers.

The A’s are coming off of a losing series against the Rangers.  They were out scored in that series by only a single run.  In 42 games, the A’s have scored 199 runs for an average of close to 5 runs a game.  Strangely enough, the number of runs scored against the A’s is an identical 199.  If the Royals can contain Oakland’s offense this weekend they are sure to like where they sit in the rankings come Monday morning.

Friday:

James Shields gets the start for the Royals.  Shields took the loss in his last game against the Yankees and a no decision against the White Sox.  Both were tough losses for the Royals as Shields only allowed 2 runs to New York and none at all to the Sox.  Shields has struck out close to a batter an inning and owns a 0.97 WHIP.  Look for Big Game James to keep the Oakland offense in check on Friday night.

The A’s will send Jarrod Parker to the hill on Friday to face Shields.  Parker has been pretty terrible thus far.  His only wins so far this year have only come when his team has provided great run support behind him such as his 10-6 win against the Angles.  His ERA is approaching 7 and has been allowing close to 2 base runners an inning.  If Parker turns this around on Friday it will be surprising.

Saturday:

Ervin Santana will start for the Royals.  Santana is coming off of a disappointing game against the Yankees giving up 8 hits, 2 of which were home runs.  The long ball can at times be Santana’s biggest weakness and as mentioned before, the A’s can hit.  Fortunately, the Coliseum is a pitcher friendly park and should help Santana keep in on the field.

Santana will face off against Tommy Milone.  Milone has been pretty hit or miss so far this year.  His ERA is a deceiving 3.71.  He has surrendered 13 earned runs in his last 5 starts, however in two of those starts he shut his opponents down completely.  The Royals hope they get the Tommy Milone that gives up an earned run per inning and not the Tommy Milone that gives up none at all.

Sunday:

Luis Mendoza gets the start on Sunday.  Mendoza has had a rough year so far.  Unlike Santana, his troubles extend past giving up home runs.  Mendoza has given up lots of hits as well as the occasional walk and he has yet to pitch past the 6^th inning.  The Royals are going to have to provide Mendoza with a lot of run support to keep this game in control.

Run support could be hard to come by though as A.J. Griffin will be starting for the A’s on Sunday.  Griffin posted a 3.06 ERA last year and has looked sharp so far.  His 3.48 ERA this year is somewhat bloated thanks to one horrendous start against the Red Sox where he gave up 7 runs in 4 innings.  The Royals will have to try to get to Griffin early for the finale of the series.

For several years now the Royals have had one of the better farm systems in Major League Baseball.  Most teams should be so lucky.  The Royals however haven’t been able to translate this advantage into success on the field and there would seem to be one very good reason for this.

You can’t win the World Series with the AAA Storm Chasers.  It takes time to scout and develop major league talent.  While developing young talent can be exciting, it usually comes with long periods of growing pains while the fans wait for the team to assemble all of the necessary pieces to win consistently.  And if you’re a mid-market team like the Royals then you hope that you have enough players developed each year to keep costs down.

In a weak division, the offensive core might be enough to keep the Royals out of the basement for the foreseeable future but to be yearly contenders they are still missing something.  Pitching, pitching and maybe a little pitching.  This is where general manager Dayton Moore earned his paycheck this offseason.

Moore started his offseason by acquiring Ervin Santana (and cash) from the Angles in exchange for LHP Brandon Sisk.  The Angles are of course currently attempting to outspend every other team in baseball and thought they could do better than Santana.  Forced to exercise his buyout option, the move seems more about dumping Santana to try and buy up more expensive pitching arms than it was about picking up prospects.  Santana isn’t exactly anyone’s idea of a team ace but he can definitely eat up innings and has the potential to strike out a ton of guys.  Unfortunately he also has the potential to give up a lot of runs.

Santana is coming off of a pretty bad year where he gave up a league leading 39 of said home runs as well as one of the more undesirable ERAs (5.16).  The Royals are hoping that the Santana they get is the Santana that can strike out 200 plus batters while posting a 3.49 ERA like he did in 2008 and so far so good.  In 7 starts, Santana has a 2.79 ERA.  What probably scares the Royals is that fact that almost half of his earned runs have come off of the long ball.  Still, it seems like a smart move, especially since Sisk, the minor league pitcher they gave up to acquire Santana, now needs Tommy John surgery.

Sisk, who has been a career minor league pitcher, seemed ready to come up and take on a bullpen position.  He posted a 2.54 ERA at the AAA level in 2012 but elbow surgery puts his future into question.  The Angles did place Sisk on their 40 man roster which means they still see potential, but for now the Royals seem to have come out on top of this trade.

But by far the biggest move for the Royals this offseason was the 6 man trade with Tampa Bay.  The trade sent starting pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis to Kansas City in exchange for minor leaguers Patrick Leonard, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery and Wil Myers.

Wade Davis probably isn’t going to win over the hearts and minds of the ever patient Royals fans.  Just another arm for an under achieving starting rotation.  James Shields is another matter as he’s the closest thing to an ace the Royals have had since the departure of Zack Greinke.  He’s had a strikeouts per 9 innings rate of over 8 since 2010 and pitches deep into games.  But even if he’s everything the Royals hope he will be, he is only signed through this year with a $12 million dollar option for 2014.

The Royals gave up the 2012 minor league player of the year for what seems to be a 2 year shot at winning a weak division.  The Rays, who can’t draw a crowd and can’t ever hope to spend the kind of money that other teams in their division do have to rely on smart moves in order to compete and this is one of them.  The Royals have an incredibly deep farm system but giving up what some people consider to be baseball’s best prospect for an outside chance at a championship is risky but it does send a message.  The Royals want to win and they want to win now.  They haven’t been to the post season since they won the World Series in 1985 and they want that to change.

Early in the season they hold a winning record but their hopes of making the playoffs are probably tied to beating the Tigers.  Their offensive core will remain in Kansas City for the time being but the pitching that they have literally bet the farm for will not.  The silver lining here is that the Royals fans finally have something to be excited about, that is unless Wil Myers turns out to be an annual MVP candidate.  If that turns out to be the case, nothing short of a World Series will be worth the cost.

After a good April and keeping up with A.L. Central leading Detroit Tigers, the Kansas City Royals are 3-3 so far this May. But for the rest of the month, they have a tough schedule. They have a game against the Baltimore Orioles, then they play the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Athletics, Houston Astros, the Angels again, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Texas Rangers. Except for the lowly Astros and struggling Angels, the other teams are above .500 and possible playoff contenders.

Despite this month’s 3-3 record, there’s reasons for concern. So far this month, the Royals have six errors, with four of them committed in their two losses against the Orioles. The usually strong Royals bullpen lost a 2-1 decision to the White Sox Monday night and Luke Hochevar‘s errant pickoff throw to first in Tuesday night’s game against the Orioles led to a 4-3 loss. And in four of the six games played this month, the Royals offense scored three or less runs.

But it’s not all bad. It took until May 8 and 30 games into the season for the Royals to lose three games in a row. Last year, they lost three games in a row by April 14, eight games into the 2012 season. The starting rotation is pitching well, especially Jeremy Guthrie and Ervin Santana. Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Salvador Perez and Alcides Escobar are playing well. If Tim Collins, Kelvin Herrera and Greg Holland cut down their walks and settle into their roles, the defense quits making errors and the offense scores more runs, the Royals could get through May with a .500 or above record. Or they could implode and have losing record. Either way, we’ll know by June 1.

As a baseball fan watching Kansas City suffer for years, I have to wonder if they are actually a good contender this season for the playoffs, or if this is just their 15 minutes of fame.

There is certainly something for Royals’ fans to get excited about right now. At this point in the year, Kansas City is 17-10, when last season at this time they were only 10-20. A dramatic difference. Pitching, in particular, seems to be carrying most of the team, but their offense is not far behind.

Royal Pitching

Veterans like Ervin Santana and Jeremy Guthrie are having stellar seasons. They have combined for 7 Wins to date, both with having an ERA under 2.50 and WHIP just above 1.00. According to ESPN, while Santana is owned in 97% of fantasy leagues, Guthrie is only owned in 50%. Guthrie brings a commendable work ethic to the team and I think would be a valuable pick-up if he is still available in your league. The right-hander excels at mixing all of his pitches to keep hitters off balance, and he recently threw his first major league shut-out.

The Royals’ starting rotation has been rounded out with the new additions of Wade Davis and James Shields. While Davis is has been struggling since joining Kansas City with a 4.75 ERA, he hopefully can get back down to that 2.43 ERA he finished with in 2012. And Shields may soon become the ace of the team, filling the void that Zack Greinke left. Both Davis and Shields are 2-2 this season.

The Royals’ bullpen has been strengthened with former-starting-pitchers-now-relievers, Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar. Chen has not allowed an earned run yet this year in 5 appearances, and Hochevar has only given up 1 earned run in 7 appearances. Greg Holland is settling in nicely as a solid anchor for the bullpen. He has 7 saves so far this year and only 1 blown.

Royal Batting

Kansas City’s pitching has started off hot, but the fans are still waiting to see the promise the line-up showed during Spring Training this year. There are only three batters with an average above .300 right now, Jarrod Dyson is one of them and he only has 20 plate appearances so far.

The power is not quite there yet from their top hitters. It somehow got lost in the transition between Spring Training and the regular season. If this team can get their bats going and keep the pitching consistent, they can be a force for the entire summer.

Fantasy owners might want to watch players like Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez, and Mike Moustakas. They have all been showing signs of improving in their last 15 games, and might just break out of their slumps soon. Moustakas is only 39% owned in fantasy leagues which is obviously due to his struggle at the plate. If he can start making solid contact again, he will prove he deserves a position on your fantasy roster.

Even though the Kansas City line-up is not producing the way they are capable of, they can still be tough to beat in the American League Central. But if history is any indication, this poor team does not have a chance. If someone were to walk into the baseball world right now and not know anything about the Royals’ past, they would never know that they are usually toward the bottom of the AL Central division.

First place Detroit Tigers better take notice that Kansas City is only a half game back. Can they keep this up? Is this just a flash in the pan? If the starting pitching can continue eating up innings, their bullpen will be able to stay fresh for the long season. And if their bats start producing, then I would say that the Royals can shed the pretender branding and will be a contender in 2013.

Welcome to a new feature on I70 Baseball, the Royals Power Rankings. Each week we’ll rank the top five Royals in 2013 with a heavy emphasis on their performance in the past seven days. Just moments ago, Alex Gordon topped a 4-1 week with a walk off hit in the tenth inning. The club now sits at 17-10, on pace for 102 victories. As awesome as Gordon’s hit was, the week belonged to Lorenzo Cain, who continues to be the best hitter on the club in 2012.

#5 James Shields- Big Game James was brought in to be the ace and I seriously doubt the Royals thought his 3.00 ERA would rank third on the starting staff more than a month into the season. Shields picked up a victory off his old team with a gutsy performance on Tuesday night. After surrendering two runs in the first, Shields proceeded to pitch six shutout innings and notch his second victory of the season. It was the third time this season Shields has pitched 6+ innings and given up two runs of less.

#4 Alex Gordon- Sunday’s big hit aside, it was a rough week for the Royals’ left fielder. Gordon was 3/23 on the week before his 10^th inning stroke and saw his average slide from .337 to .303 this week. Still, he leads the team with 20 RBI and is tied for the team lead in both home runs (3) and doubles (6)

#3 Jeremy Guthrie- The performance of the week goes to Guthrie for his complete game shutout of the White Sox on Saturday night. Guthrie completely owns the Sox, and has now gone a club-record 17 straight starts without a loss. Guthrie hasn’t given up a run in his last two starts.

#2 Ervin Santana- The official stats will tell you that Ervin Santana didn’t even pitch last week, but of course we all know that’s not true. Santana continued his dominance on Thursday afternoon before a snow out erased his efforts. To say Santana has been great this year would be underselling it. He’s struck out 31 batters in 36 innings and sports a 2.00 ERA.

#1 Lorenzo Cain- Cain was one of the biggest question marks heading into the 2013 campaign and so far he’s been incredible. He leads the club with a .341 average and didn’t do anything to hurt that this week. We was 8/20 with five runs scored and five RBI on the week (including the only two RBI in the team’s 2-0 win on Saturday night. Through five weeks Cain has been the best player on the team and one of the best in the league.

Honorable mention: Bruce Chen- Chen picked up his second victory of the season with two shutout innings against the Rays on Wednesday night. Chen has now made five appearances out of the pen without allowing an earned run. Perhaps more impressively, he’s struck out 11 batters in only 9 2/3 innings.

It’s only two games. It’s early in the season. It’s Chicago cold and damp compared to the hot, dry air of Arizona. Yes, there’s reasons to not worry about the Royals 0-2 start. But It’s the way they’ve lost those two games which cause concern, even this early in the season.

Opening Day in Chicago. James Shields pitched well, striking out six and giving up eight hits and a home run over six innings, a performance worthy of an ace starter. But Chicago White Sox starter Chris Sale was that much better, striking out seven, giving up seven hits over 7.2 scoreless innings, keeping a faltering Royals offense in check on the way to a 1-0 Chicago victory.

The hot Royals Spring Training offense cooled off with seven hits, all singles. They drew three walks and had nine strikeouts. There was a glimmer of hope in the Royals ninth, with Eric Hosmer at second with two outs. But the free-swinging Jeff Francoeur hacked at the first pitched offered, a weak groundout to the shortstop to end the game. It’s only one game and 2008 was the last time the Royals won on Opening Day. But the way they lost was troubling, because it was like the way they’ve lost before. But there’s always the next game.

Game two Royals starter Ervin Santana gave up a league leading 39 home runs last season. He has a habit of giving up home runs, but it was another cold day in Chicago, so the long ball shouldn’t be a factor for Santana.

In the second game, Santana pitched six innings, giving up five hits and four earned runs, striking out eight and issuing a walk. Not a bad outing. Oh, I forgot to mention three of the four earned runs were home runs. Maybe it wasn’t such a good outing.

White Sox starter Jake Peavy pitched six innings, giving up four hits, two runs, striking out six and didn’t walk anyone. The Sox bullpen kept the Royals scoreless, giving the Sox a 5-2 victory.

The Royals offense had five hits this time, one of them a double. But the team only walked once and struck out seven times, with a .182 team batting average. Once again, Francoeur was the last Royal to bat in the ninth, but this time he took a called strike before grounding out to the pitcher to end the game. At least Francoeur took a pitch before swinging.

There was a bright spot in both games. In four innings of work, the Royals bullpen struck out three and gave up two walks and a run. By the way, the run was a home run gave up by Luke Hochevar. At least he didn’t give up four or five runs like he usually does, so there’s the bright spot.

It’s only two games in early April. The weather will warm up and so will the Royals. But the same old pattern of losing by not walking, not scoring runs and having the pitching staff give up home runs will test an already frustrated fan base. It makes it too easy to say “It’s the same old Royals.” And last April’s 12 game losing streak is still fresh in fan’s minds. If the Royals win Thursday’s game and play well in Philadelphia, these first two games won’t matter. But if the 2013 Royals play like the 2012 Royals, it’s going to be a long season.

I believe the Royals will do well this year. I know, there’s been a few years when it seemed the Royals would do well and they fell flat (like 2004, 2009 and 2012). If there’s any team out there who crushes fan’s expectations and pulls the rug out from underneath their fans, it’s the Kansas City Royals.

But 2013 isn’t like the hopeful mirage of the 2012 season. Yes, there was optimism in 2012, but with the exception of the bullpen, the team wasn’t that good. Throw in the injuries, the dismal play of Eric Hosmer and Jeff Francoeur, the inconsistent play of Mike Moustakas and the 12-game losing streak in April, it’s a surprise the Royals finished as well as they did.

But this year, things are different. The Royals overhauled the starting rotation by getting James Shields, Ervin Santana and Wade Davis and resigning Jeremy Guthrie. Last year’s Opening Day starter, Bruce Chen, is in the bullpen. So is Luke Hochevar. The bullpen is strong and should be stronger with the improved starting rotation pitching more innings. Except for the question marks of right fielder Jeff Francoeur and second baseman Chris Getz, the Royals have a competitive lineup, a lineup not relying on washed-up veterans like Juan Gonzalez or Jose Guillen (the jury is still out on Francoeur). And unlike the Injury Bug Attack of Two Aught Twelve which decimated a part of the team, this spring has almost been injury-free. And the Royals are Cactus League Champions, which doesn’t mean anything, but at least they played well.

And the team did things that made sense. Like moving Hochevar to the bullpen instead of forcing him to be a starter. Choosing Luis Mendoza over Chen as the fifth starter. Making Getz the starting second baseman (Johnny Giavotella didn’t play well enough to earn a spot). The Royals didn’t do anything this spring that made you go, “what were they thinking?” Well, Sluggerrr getting a lap dance at a 2005 bachelor party notwithstanding (Google it if you must, But I warn you it’s NSFW and a little, well, awkward).

But we are talking about the Royals. The Royals starters got roughed up in a few Spring Training games. Lately, lefty reliever Tim Collins hasn’t been pitching well. Eric Hosmer might be playing right field and Billy Butler might be at first base in Interleague games. Key players may suffer injuries. The momentum and winning in Spring Training may not continue into the regular season. The Royals might have another 12-game losing streak early in the season. Sure, all this happening is unlikely, but if any team can do it, the Royals can.

But not this year. I believe the Royals will play much better this season. Winning the World Series? Not likely. Winning the American League Pennant? There’s a slim chance. Winning the American League Central? Only if the Detroit Tigers suffer a rash of injuries and their offense, defense and pitching falter. A Wild Card Berth? With good teams in the A.L. East and A.L. West, it’s unlikely. Finishing above .500? I believe an 87-75 record and a second place finish in the A.L. Central behind Detroit is a realistic possibility.

I hope so anyway. I am a Royals fan, after all.

Bob Fescoe spent last week in Surprise, Arizona interviewing Kansas City Royals players and coaches for his morning show on Kansas City’s 610 Sports Radio.

When he was not on the air, he was taking in the sites of early Spring Training and snapping pics that he would later tweet out to his followers.

With Bob’s permission, we share those pics with you below:

Billy Butler BP

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Billy Butler takes BP with Frenchy and Hosmer looking on

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball
Follow him on Twitter here.