Guardians Host Royals in Crucial Wild Card Series

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Cleveland Guardians will face off against the Kansas City Royals in a pivotal four-game series starting Monday at Progressive Field. The series runs through Thursday, with each game broadcast on CLEGuardians.TV for the first three days and on FOX for the finale.

The matchups for the week feature a lineup of promising pitchers, starting with RHP Slade Cecconi (5-6, 4.78) going against RHP Ryan Bergert (2-1, 2.61), Monday at 6:40 p.m. Tuesday will see LHP Joey Cantillo (4-3, 3.73) face LHP Noah Cameron (7-6, 3.03) and Wednesday features LHP Logan Allen (7-11, 4.46) against RHP Michael Wacha (9-11, 4.45). The series concludes Thursday with RHP Gavin Williams (10-5, 3.17) matching up against RHP Stephen Kolek (5-5, 3.88) at 7:15 p.m.

This series is critical for both teams. The Guardians, after winning just one of their last three and sitting at 72-70, are 2.5 games back in the wild card race. They’ve been inconsistent offensively, hitting a league-worst .224 as a team, though José Ramírez continues to shine, boasting a solid career average against the Royals.

On the other hand, the Royals (73-70) enter the series on the back of losing to the Twins, ending a three-game win streak. They sit two games back of Seattle for the third wild card position. Players like Maikel Garcia and Bobby Witt Jr. have performed well against the Guardians this season.

In terms of injuries, the Royals will be without RHP Seth Lugo and several other key players, while the Guardians have RHP Nic Enright and OF Lane Thomas among those injured.

The Guardians will seek to gain ground in the standings against a team they currently lead 5-4 this season. Both teams will be looking for critical wins as they battle for a wild card spot in the playoffs.