Tag Archives: ALCS

A Comeback 29 Years in the Making: The Kansas City Royals Postseason Surge

By Savannah Malnar

The year was 1985, and the Kansas City Royals were World Series Champions, but hope for another title had all but disappeared for the next few decades. Up until this season, the Royals had not been seen in the postseason since that Game 7 win. That’s a drought of 29 years.

They’re back now with a vengeance, and the media is loving it. Articles about this team without the author referencing the Royal’s energy and confidence are nearly non-existent.

Everyone wants to analyze this playoff run. Ever since they took out the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card Game, they’ve been unstoppable. They have won all of their postseason games to date. They swept the Los Angeles Angels, a World Series favorite. They have seven home-runs in the postseason, which is the same amount they had in their final 23 games in the regular season. But why? What’s the cause?

The media seems to insist it’s because of, surprisingly, their inexperience. These “kids” are so excited to just be in the postseason that the pressure isn’t getting to them. The Royals’ designated hitter, Billy Butler, is quoted by ESPN saying: “I’ve always heard the veterans with postseason experience always have the advantage because they know what to expect. That hasn’t been the case, I can’t put my finger on why. Hey, it’s my first experience.”

One thing is for sure though; despite the cause, the Royals are becoming a media and fan favorite for this MLB postseason. The Huffington Post dedicated an article to 27 reasons the Royals are becoming America’s new favorite team, and even the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled “It’s Official: The Kansas City Royals Can’t Lose.”

While this is definitely the feel-good story of the season, is it right for the media to be covering them so subjectively? Many of the articles about the Royals playoff run don’t reference their opposition. There are unanswered questions in a lot of these articles; maybe it was the Athletics’ pitching that really was the reason the Royals won the Wild Card game. There were most likely factors outside of the Royals themselves that could be contributed to their sweep of the Angels.

Whether the media is right in this or not, they are definitely creating new fans of the Royals with all of the hype. This is a postseason run that will be remembered by baseball fans all across the country, not just in Kansas City.

A-Rod’s ALCS Woes ‘Blown out of Proportion’

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BY STEVEN KUBITZA

The New York Yankees bowed out of the ALCS last Thursday, but they still seem to dominate the media, both in print and on television.

The story throughout the postseason regarding the Yankees had to do with the struggles of Alex Rodriguez.  This was especially the case during the ALCS, when he went 1 for 9 in three games, as he was held out of the starting lineup for games three and four.

What the media ignored is that A-Rod was not the only Yankee to struggle against the Tigers in the ALCS. Robinson Cano went 1 for 18, Curtis Granderson went 0 for 11, and Mark Teixeira went 3-15. The entire lineup only accounted for 22 hits and 6 runs in four games against the Tigers.

While this offensive stagnation was occurring, it was made out to look like A-Rod was the sole reason for the decline. The coverage got worse once he was held out of the starting lineup for the third game of the series.

Upon the news that Rodriguez was being held out of the lineup, Curt Schilling of ESPN’s Baseball Tonight went on to say that he had a hard time seeing A-Rod return to the Yankees next season.  He questioned his ability to play in regular season games since he did not finish out the ALCS.

This point made sense, but he forgot to note that coaches make decisions based on who is playing well at the time. If A-Rod is struggling for a period of time, then it is nothing personal when he is held out of the lineup. It is simply done to give the offense a spark, especially when the entire team is struggling to hit. If there were valid replacements for each player, then Yankee manager Joe Girardi may have tried to make a few more changes.

Schilling echoed the thoughts of many, but those can quickly be put to rest by looking at the contract A-Rod is signed to in New York. He still has 5 years and $114 million left on the deal, along with incentives if he is to pass those ahead of him on the all-time home run list.

The World Series begins on Wednesday, and that should finally begin the transition from talk about A-Rod to talk about the Giants and the Tigers. That is, until the series is over and A-Rod again dominates offseason talks.

ALCS Announcers Biased Toward Yankees

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BY LORI RAUDIO

Game one of the American League Championship Series (ALCS) between the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers was called by play-by-play announcer Ernie Johnson and analysts Ron Darling and John Smoltz. The dramatic game was filled with fair comments about both teams early on, but as the Yankees struggled, battled back, and eventually lost, the announcers’ comments swayed in favor and in defense of New York.

During the beginning of the game, I was impressed the commentators were equally talking about both teams. They would give a compliment to one team, calling the Yankees’ defense “Fort Knox in the infield,” and seconds later praising the “lumber hitters” of the Tigers. Favorable comments were also made about both starting pitchers, Andy Pettitte and Doug Fister. More examples of equitable coverage included video montages of both teams’ seasons and conversations with a member of both teams’ coaching staff in between innings.

The game was fairly quiet through the first few innings, but as play progressed biases became evident. The Yankees failed to produce a run after loading the bases in three separate innings, which turned the focus to the struggles of the Yankees players in the postseason. The announcers talked at length about their poor performance, discredited the good plays made by the Tigers’ Jhonny Peralta and Fister. While the announcers did mention Fister and Peralta, they seemed to be more concerned with the Yankees lack of production.

A topic that was revisited many times throughout the game was the postseason woes of Yankee Alex Rodriguez. He was benched the previous day against the Baltimore Orioles, and the announcers discussed his situation at seemingly every available moment. The camera frequently followed and zoomed in on him, even while the Tigers were batting and had men on base. Rodriguez seemed to be used as the scapegoat for the Yankees’ problems in the postseason.

Those problems continued as the Tigers took a four run lead, but the announcers kept expecting the Yankees to strike back, saying “this is when the Yankees do their best work against the Tigers.” The Yankees did exactly that, in dramatic fashion, in the bottom of the 9th inning. Tigers’ pitcher Jose Valverde gave up two home runs which tied the game. With the Yankees resurgence, more of the announcers’ biases came out, evident in their excitement. Raul Ibanez’s game-tying home run was even praised by one of the announcers as “the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen.” They seemed to think the Yankees then had it in the bag, but the Tigers came back in extra innings to win game one of the ALCS by a score of 6-4.

An interesting note for the rest of the series involves Derek Jeter’s injury in the 12th inning. A broken ankle on a diving play ended Jeter’s postseason, and the announcers seemed very upset by this news. As the series continues, it will be interesting to see the stance the media takes on Jeter and the Yankees. If the Yankees lose, it could easily be blamed on the loss of Jeter. If they win, the team could be celebrated for winning without Jeter’s experience and leadership. Whatever the results may be, the remainder of the ALCS will be worth watching.