It's Just One Game

The sports world is full of cliches including, but not limited to 'It's just one game.' Never more is this true than in the game of baseball where a season of 162 games is played over a six month stretch. So many times a team comes out flat whether it be the starting pitching, the defense or an apathetic lineup. You could even come out strong as bull and be quieted by an opposing pitcher or a batter that just can't make an out. In baseball, whatever the outcome, a good team is confident and resilient enough to turn the page and do it all over again 12-24 hours later, because after all, it's just one game.

The one game that will be played in Kansas City Tuesday night is anything but just one game for the respective franchises. Now this isn't just the Athletics fanatic in me speaking. I truly believe that the winner of this game will be the favorite over the Angels and will put their franchise in a great position to shine in October. The losing franchise will more than likely face the harsh reality of starting over in some form or another...again.

I have, obviously, followed the Athletics very closely over the last six months and, how do I put this bluntly...they have aged me greatly. Thanks to the great invention that is Twitter, I have grown to be somewhat knowledgeable about the life and times of the Kansas City Royals as well. I have a twitter 'friend', @Meouse, who has been a fan of Kansas City ever since the Athletics left town and were replaced by the Royals in 1969. Yes, for those of you too young to realize, this game burns deep for older generations of Kansas City residents. For just over a decade, the Athletics played in Kansas City and left town just in time before they became a mini dynasty with 3 consecutive World Series championships starting five years after their departure. Kansas City was awarded a new franchise and eventually got their lone championship in 1985, but they've haven't sniffed a return to glory since. The Royals will be playing their first playoff game (not postseason in my mind, because this is merely a one game play-in to the postseason) in 28 years. The drought for Oakland is nearly as long, but not nearly as dry, as the Athletics last one a World Series in 1989, but at least they have been to the postseason seven times since that with this year potentially being the eighth.

I ask you which is more painful? To tease you fan base on numerous occasions only to have the rug pulled out from under you time and time again, or to just be so woefully horrid that by mid-summer you are usually looking forward to football or hockey seasons? Yeah, it's probably been much worse to be a Royals fan from 1990 to present, because at least Oakland has provided me with some joy even though the pain in October's past has been quite agonizing.

Getting back to what I have seen between both Oakland and Kansas City this season, the Athletics win easily or lose painfully close while the Royals win close games and lose due to stupidity. In the first half of the season everything that could go right did go right for Oakland. They dominated their opponents and, sure they had a couple of close losses, some thanks to a struggling closer who was shipped out, but who could complain? Then they made some big splashes picking up some front end pitching and gave up a fan favorite in Yoenis Cespedes. Coincidentally, but not because of that, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong in the second half of the season. The close losses piled up as fast as the injuries did. The hitting stopped, the errors blossomed and the bullpen imploded. The funny thing is, nobody pointed fingers and nobody played the blame game. It was just a state of shock for the fan base. Even the experts seemed to believe this was just a small blip on the radar and that things would turn around at some point. They never did. It took until the last day of the season for the Athletics to become the final team to qualify for a 163rd game. Now everyone has the feeling like it will all be better now, because this team was constructed for October (for the first time in Billy Beane's tenure).

As for Kansas City, they came in with as high of hopes as they have had as a franchise in years and not surprisingly, struggled out of the gate sitting under .500 through the month of May. They turned it around thanks to a fabulous bullpen and sturdy starting pitching while their year long theme of free swinging, low power, hitting continued. They made very few personnel moves, but by mid-summer had taken over first place in the AL Central. Then it fell apart again as the Royals went into a mini tailspin once again. They were on the outside of the playoffs looking in as quickly as they had elevated to first place. For every step forward the young Royals took, either the hitting or the managerial decisions of Ned Yost would send them a step or two back. The fan base hates Ned Yost. Okay hate may not be the right word...how about detests or abhors? As late as game 160 I think everyone in Kansas City was still calling for Yost to be fired and replaced with someone who could make everything work (or just not make asinine decisions on a nightly basis). The Royals may not have won the division that Detroit tried to hand them, but they have given their fans at least one night of possible pure euphoria (or one more example of why he won't be around next season).

This leads me to why this game is far more important than just one game.

Let's start on the mound. Two pitchers who were brought to their respective franchises to pitch in a game exactly of this magnitude. Neither Jon Lester nor James Shields will be pitching for these teams next season. One franchise is going to lose their ace for nothing after Tuesday night. They will not be replaced by anyone of equal talent. This is a one shot deal. This cannot be overstated or forgotten. Oh and neither Yoenis Cespedes nor Wil Myers will ever come back either. Tomorrow is going to suck for someone.

How about the coaches? We all know the fate of Ned Yost if the Royals lose tomorrow, but has anyone considered that Bob Melvin could take the blame for what happened if Oakland loses? There has been no talk of Melvin being on any type of a hot seat, but you don't think what happened post-All Star break will just be forgotten because Oakland got to play one extra game after leading MLB record wise as recently as early August do you? Billy Beane won't get fired. He's already going to replace 1/3 of the roster because that's what he does, but it might just be time to find a different voice in the locker room as silly as that sounds.

How about the cities of Oakland and Kansas City. They both already feel like red-headed stepchildren compared to their more popular and more successful in-state rivals, the Giants and the Cardinals. Both San Francisco and St. Louis are in the playoffs as well (San Francisco in the NL's play in game). Those two teams have combined to win 4 of the last 8 World Series. San Francisco is helping in block Oakland from getting a new stadium. St. Louis watches all of their prospects flourish while Kansas City has seen countless top prospects flop for years. The ironic thing is the the last Oakland World Series win came against San Francisco while Kansas City won their championship against St. Louis. Neither city is ready to watch their rival walk away with another trophy and have a parade again.

So how is this going to end? Two teams built on pitching and sporadic hitting. The Royals will try and steal a base or two while the Athletics will probably have to hit a home run to win. In all of Jon Lester's starts with Oakland he has been caught by Derek Norris. This will have to change tomorrow. Derek Norris can't throw to second base right now due to his nagging injuries and he is a liability at the plate currently nonetheless. Of course Kansas City will need base runners and that could be an issue. The Athletics starting pitchers have gone five straight games without walking a batter and the Royals were dead last in team walks for the season. You can't steal first base, right? Jon Lester was 21st in all of baseball with .236 batting average against (which is 4th best of the Oakland rotation) to boot. It won't be much easier for Oakland who really hasn't hit anyone well in two months save for Chris Young. Even though Shields has been quite pedestrian versus Oakland during his career, he didn't get the nickname 'Big Game' just because it rhymed. He'll have the home crowd behind him and a final free agent contract hanging in the balance. First to score could win this thing. The Royals bullpen is their strength. The three relievers that Oakland will have to navigate through if they are behind after six innings (Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland) combined for a 1.28 ERA on the season. Game. Set. Match. Oakland's big four of relievers (Fernando Abad, Dan Otero, Luke Gregorson and Sean Doolittle) posted a respectable 2.39 ERA. Kansas City has the major advantage with the recent struggles Oakland has seen. This means it will be a low scoring, taut affair where a single managerial decision could prove to be the difference. Advantage, Oakland. Simple enough. I believe less will be more during the game. You only get 27 outs, don't waste any of them.

There won't be a winner between Oakland and Kansas City, there will be a team that advances because they made fewer mistakes than their opponent.

Final Score: Oakland 3, Kansas City 2 in 11 mind numbing, heart pounding, puke inducing innings.