It has been about 30 years since Major League Baseball fans in Baltimore and Kansas City have enjoyed a World Series, but one of those droughts will end this month.
And the opponent for whichever club reaches the best-of-seven final will be either the St. Louis Cardinals or San Francisco Giants, familiar faces in the playoff final-four over the past five seasons.
The drama begins on Friday when the Kansas City Royals visit the Baltimore Orioles to open the best-of-seven American League championship series while the National League match-up between the Giants and Cardinals begins Saturday in St. Louis.
The Orioles, whose 96 regular-season wins are the most of the four remaining teams in the title hunt, have not reached the World Series since winning it in 1983. They had not reached the AL final since 1997.
Until this year, the Royals had not reached the playoffs since winning the 1985 World Series.
While the Royals had the fewest home runs in the major leagues this season, the Orioles led the majors with 211 homers, 107 of them at home in Camden Yards.
That has Royals manager Ned Yost planning to use Yordano Ventura as his starting pitcher in game two, in part because Ventura allowed only 14 homers this season, the fewest of any pitcher certain to be in the Royals rotation against Baltimore.
"That plays into it," said Yost.
Both teams used 11 pitchers in the divisional playoff round but could add another before Friday's deadline to set the series roster.
The Orioles looked on Tuesday at left-handed pitchers TJ McFarland and Brian Matusz, neither of whom was in the line-up for the opening playoff series win over Detroit.
Royals pitchers has a 1.74 earned-run average against the Los Angeles Angels in the prior round with relievers allowing only one run over 12 innings.
"We feel pretty comfortable with 11 pitchers right now," Yost said.
Kansas City will threaten with stolen bases, having led the major leagues with 153 this season. The Royals were successful in 81 per cent of steal attempts, including all five attempts in seven games against Baltimore.
The Cardinals, who lead the major leagues with 30 playoff triumphs in the past five seasons, seek their second World Series title in four seasons after having lost last year's final to Boston.
The Giants will try to claim their third World Series crown in five campaigns. They have won seven playoff series in a row.
Share
