The Kansas City Royals and the Los Angles Angels will be the last two teams in Major League Baseball to begin their season. The Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners have already started theirs. The Miami Marlins and St Louis Cardinals will start theirs in Wednesday evening. Finally, six days from today, after twenty-eight other teams have started, the Royals and Angels will start at 9pm local time. Even though these two teams will be the last to step off, I think they will get the most media coverage, and it’s not because the national media is in love with the Royals.

This guy and the Royals are going to crash the Angels Opening Day Party

It seems that the Angels have signed a couple of big name free agents over the off-season in the name of Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson. It is a compelling story in the national media. Albert Pujols graced the cover of Sports Illustrated’s MLB Preview. ESPN is televising the opener, and FOX added Saturday’s game to their regional coverage. If you live in the Royals television market don’t expect to watch the ESPN telecast. It will be blacked out to protect the FoxSports Kansas City broadcast. In Los Angles, the Orange County Register is hopping on the “mob” fad, and plans to cover the Royals-Angels Opener like never before.

The Royals track record doesn’t lend itself to the Royals being anything more than facilitaters for a game of baseball disguised to be a celebration of Arte Murano’s shopping spree during the winter. The Royals are like the convicted being lead into the Roman Coliseum to be eaten by lions. The cards are even stacked against the Royals liturgically. That’s right, Christian Royals fans will be rooting against the Angels on Holy Weekend.

I think the Angels are a good out of division rival for the Royals. Southern California is a hot bed of baseball talent. George Brett is from there, and so are a bunch of other Royals players. The Angels broadcast team consists of Victor Rojas and Mark Gubicza. Mark Gubiza needs no explaining. Victor Rojas is the son of Cookie, and grew up in Kansas City. If you follow him on Twitter you’ll notice he remains a Chiefs and KU Jayhawk fan. The Royals broadcast team has many ties to the Angels. Steve Physioc and Rex Hudler were Angels broadcasters for 11 seasons. Ryan Lefebvre is also from Southern California. If that’s not enough these two teams have seen a lot of each other in Cactus League play. Including a little dust up when Everett Teaford hit Peter Bourjos with a fastball after surrendering three straight home runs. This opening series shapes up to be exciting and hotly contested.

There is always opportunity in adversity. What better time to come out in punch the other team in the mouth than when they congratulating themselves? The Royals have a power hitting first baseman of their own. The Royals have some electric bullpen arms. The Royals have an excellent outfield. The Royals also won the last season’s series 7-3.

Earlier in the winter I was concerned that the Royals were getting too much media attention. It appeared they had become the next trendy pick in the surprise baseball team sweepstakes. I’m sure the Angels organization is not overlooking the Royals. I’m glad to see that for one weekend it appears the national media is. It’s a good recipe for “Chip on our shoulder”. It’s time for the Royals to crash the Pujols Party and shock the world.

Taking a look at the Royals roster, there are quite a few players that could find a roster spot but only a couple are making enough noise to possibly earn a starting role. The Royals haven’t been exactly a hot bed for fantasy talent as of late. Zach Greinke was a fantasy gem last season but now is fighting to stay on the active rosters each week. Here’s a look at some position players worthy of a roster spot and their currently statistics.

Butler is the only Royal position player that should be considered for a active spot. His Batting Average (BA) is currently top 10 in the American League (AL) while on his way to producing similar number as 2009. If his BA falls below .300, his value will go down only because first base is a power position and he doesn’t have the power numbers to keep up.

Gullen and DeJesus are mostly worthy of a backup positions but in leagues with 12 or more teams, they should be active. Guillen will give power numbers while DeJesus will add Doubles (2B) and BA. Either one could be useful in their strong areas depending on team needs. DeJesus probably isn’t owned as much as Guillen mostly because he isn’t as well known but having a BA Top 10 in the AL should help him get noticed.

Callaspo is valuable since he qualifies to play 2^nd and 3^rd Base. He has mostly played 3^rd this season. He should only be used in a back-up role. At 3^rd, there is no real help at a power position but at 2^nd, he could be useful if a team is desperate and needing to fill a spot.

It’s amazing the 8^thranked outfielder is only owned by 57% of all leagues. Rankings are no help to Podsednik. Even though his rankings are very good, it shows most owners really only care out the power numbers. If there is a team short stolen bases each week while strong in other areas, picking up Podsednik would be a good idea. He could also assist with the BA as well.

As far as the pitching staff is concerned, here’s a look at some pitchers worthy of a roster spot and their currently statistics.

Soria is one of the best closers this season and should be active in all leagues. There is no reason for him to be on the bench. Start him now.

Greinke is not quite the same Greinke as last season but should be active on all rosters. His record and Earned Run Average (ERA) doesn’t show a successful starting pitcher but his other numbers are very good. Grienke’s Walks plus hits per innings pitched (WHIP) and Strikeouts over Walks (K/BB) is well above average. The only reason for not activating Greinke should be if a teams rotation is deep and he’s not needed. Other than that, don’t be afraid of the record and start him.

Stats and rankings courtesy of CBSSports.com

Scott Yerbic brings fantasy analysis to i70baseball.com every Monday for both the Royals and the Cardinals.