Royals Struggle as Road Dogs Against Tigers: Key Stats

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00:00It's the last time the Royals scored five-plus runs, more than four, back on Friday, April 4th, nearly two weeks ago.

00:09And they are a road dog today against Reese Olsen and the Tigers in the Motor City, minus 146 in favor of Detroit.

00:17Over-understands at eight.

00:18Donnie, we have said this for a few teams, but for a KC team that reached the playoffs a year ago with those same expectations,

00:26once again entering 2025, outside of Bobby Witt Jr., everybody else kind of needs to start to carry their own weight.

00:34How crucial are these early season games for KC as they start to try to turn it around?

00:39Yeah, not going to get a lot of love either from the weather conditions if Kansas City does want to turn around on offense today.

00:44Right around 60 degrees, which isn't bad, but a big ballpark here blowing in about 10 miles an hour from center field.

00:49If we do take a look at Reese Olsen last year, the Detroit Tigers pitcher, he was really good.

00:53But 503 batters he's faced, an ISO of 107 and a weighted on-base percentage of 284.

00:5867 batters that he's faced throughout this season so far, high weighted on-base percentages,

01:02338 to left, excuse me, 338 to lefties, and 359 to righties, but a low ISO power number, which is pretty solid.

01:09But as you stated, you take a look at the lineup today, if you're looking at just ISO power numbers,

01:13only three batters have positive ISO power numbers against right-hands in pitching this year so far.

01:18The rest, not so great.

01:20And if there's one batter that you probably would take, it's Bobby Witt Jr.

01:22But surrounded by Jonathan Indy, who's not getting on base or hitting with power,

01:26and the same thing behind him with Vinny Pasquantino's 288, weighted on-base percentage,

01:29and Salvador Perez at a 245.

01:31It feels like he's just in the middle of that lineup.

01:33You can pitch him around him, and sort of nobody can help them out and do damage when he's on first base.

01:38But let's take a look at Detroit's lineup.

01:39I do like it today.

01:40Michael Lorenzen's on the mound.

01:41Decent pitcher here.

01:42He's a right-handed guy.

01:44Left-handed batters he's done very well against.

01:45Right-handed batters is slightly elevated.

01:47So you will have your share of left-handed batters in the lineup.

01:50Maybe it balances out, but again, last year Michael Lorenzen, 257 lefties he faced,

01:55a 109 ISO and a 252 weighted on-base percentage.

01:57Sometimes you have to take a look at that leap of faith and how this lineup presents itself.

02:01Because the first six batters here, I'm just going to give you the weighted on-base percentages,

02:04which again, 320 to 325 or higher is above average.

02:08437, 388, 333, 413, 339, and 455 against right-handed pitching this year.

02:15And most of those batters, Ben, between 20 to 48 at-bat.

02:19So you do have an okay sample size to deal with.

02:21I don't know if Kansas City is going to get off the ground today.

02:23That minus 144 price, probably worth your while looking at the Detroit Tigers based on that early handicap.

02:29So you're going to get off the ground today.