Five things Yankees fans should know about the Royals heading into Saturday night’s Game 1 of the ALDS at the Stadium:
1. Last one standing
Their postseason berth — a historically improbable one, as the third team in the expansion era to lose at least 106 games and make the playoffs the following year — marked their first since winning the World Series in 2015, with 34-year-old Salvador Perez the lone holdover from that club.
And his numbers, somehow, keep improving: .271 with a .786 OPS and 104 RBIs, for his best season since 2021.
2. Sum of the parts doesn’t equal the whole
The Royals tend to put the ball in play to manufacture runs and avoid strikeouts (1,161 in the regular season, second-fewest in MLB), and AL MVP candidate Bobby Witt Jr. (.887 OPS) and Perez (1.107 OPS) each found individual success against the Yankees in 2024.
But Kansas City, in seven regular-season meetings, still couldn’t keep pace with the Yankees offense and collected just 24 runs.
3. All roads lead to Aroldis
Could polarizing closer Aroldis Chapman somehow — albeit indirectly — hurt the Yankees in October again?
The trade in 2023 that shipped him from the Royals to the Rangers netted Cole Ragans.
Until then, Ragans had mostly pitched out of the bullpen.
But Kansas City immediately made him a full-time starter, he made his first All-Star Game in 2024, struck out 223 hitters (fifth-most in MLB) and shut down the Orioles in the AL Wild Card Series as a key piece of a rotation with the second-best ERA-plus in the AL.
He’ll get the chance to do the same in Game 2.
Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:
- Sherman: Yankees need to have Aaron Boone’s back in pressure-packed playoffs
- Aaron Judge could ‘add a level’ to Yankees legacy by reversing playoff woes, winning World Series
- Yankees will be without Anthony Rizzo for ALDS in injury crusher
4. Something has to give …
The Royals pitching staff, led by a trio of elite starters in Ragans, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, allowed the fewest home runs per nine innings (0.92) in MLB during the regular season, while the Yankees led the majors with 237 homers. In those seven meetings, though, the Yankees slugged 10 homers.
The modern era
While the Yankees and Royals haven’t met in October since the 1980 ALCS, Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro already has experienced a recent taste of facing the Yankees in the postseason.
Quatraro served as the Rays third-base coach in 2018 and bench coach from 2019-22. And in 2020, Tampa Bay eliminated the Yankees in the ALDS.
