The four-game set between the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals will see a Tigers team desperate for wins coming against a team plenty set to play the spoiler. As the season nears the homestretch, the Tigers are starting to look less and less like the potential division winner that they were assumed to at the beginning of the season.
Their series against the Royals may be the make-or-break point in their playoff push. They are currently a single game behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. Royals manager Ned Yost has already said that he plans to start the best roster possible in these games, perhaps acting as a spoiler:
"But to the team they're contending with, it's not fair. So when we play Chicago, when we play Detroit, we'll put our best team and our best pitchers on the field every game against them. We won't put any rookies in there unless it's just absolutely out of necessity. That's just the way I've always done it and that's the way it should be."
Kansas City will have a tough time in the first game of the set, drawing ace Justin Verlander as their first match-up against Luke Hochevar. The Royals have scored 12 runs off of Verlander in three starts against him this season.
For more on the Kansas City Royals, be sure to check out Royals Review. For more on the Detroit Tigers, head over to Bless You Boys.