Tough to say. Houston and Toronto would be my guess.

It all depends on when we catch these teams. Last year we were fortunate to face the Angels and the Orioles when they were ice cold offensively.
We scored 4 runs total in games 3 and 4 of the ALCS and won them both.

Not to mention that every facet of the Royals' game was working beautifully during those series.

Absolutely, its one of the reasons, for the most part, Im against giving up alot for a rental. You can mortgage part of your future just to get unlucky (which is most of the time) and lose. The most important thing is being relevant every year and putting yourself in a position to succeed in the postseason. Thats exactly who the Cardinals and Giants are.

I think it's easier to get good enough pitching in the playoffs than to get good enough offense l, especially in a short series.

It's all matchups though, but give me offense and decent pitching.

God I hope they don't sell. It would be funny watching them age another year and watch them lose 90 games next year

Shitty thing about houston in a short series is that ballpark. The Crawford boxes can swing a series so fast.

1st all AL World Series? I could be down.

It's what I am hoping for, as well. I want their 90 year old owner to really try to keep that thing together and fail miserably.

I love seeing the juggernaut fall.

Yeah, that's what scares me. Same thing with the short corners at Yankee Stadium. We couldn't put ourselves in a position where we were starting Guthrie and Chris Young in games 3 & 4 in those ballparks.

I really think Houston is going to make it. They're so young, they definitely have September fade potential... but they have so much talent and a legit ace.

Minnesota's more likely to be caught, but I have no idea who. 8 teams are within 6.5 of them. Any of those teams gets hot like the Royals did last year, they can get in.

The Yankees are really coming on strong, surely ARods HGH will wear off any moment though. Seems like a solid club and Girardi has done a fantastic job with that club the last couple of years. They have alot of bad contracts and are kind overachieving. There are no just god awful teams in the AL, but lots of bottom feeders in the NL to pad those wins and the Royals are still the 2nd best team in baseball.

And as usual the AL is cleaning up on the weaker NL in interleague play 114-94. PB is actually right, the NL is JV.

Remember when Kyle drabek was the sticking point to what ended up being a failed deal for doc halladay? It's all speculation, we have a proven (rental) entity to make a push

Both teams (Royals and Giants) have improved a lot offensively, and they are both top 10* in OPS and runs after being middle-of-the-pack in those areas a season ago. The offensive profiles are actually really, really similar this season. *The Royals are technically 11th in R while the Giants are 7th, but just 7 runs separate them.

I think both teams have actually improved since a season ago. KC's rotation does have the potential now to set up much better than a season ago heading into the playoffs, if recent signs from Duffy and Ventura develop into a trend over the rest of the season. Having Duffy replace Vargas, Ventura pitching like his 2014 vintage, Cueto replace Shields and Volquez replace Guthrie looks like an upgrade at 3 of 4 spots.

I have a very positive view of Reed and think Lamb and Finnegan both have value. It's just that Reed is the No. 4 guy in the Royals prospect SP depth chart (Behind Almonte, Zimmer and Manaea). So even though he's got a ton of potential, he's not as painful to lose as those guys. I'm actually really surprised the Reds did not try to insist on Miguel Almonte, who is closer to the show, rather than Reed.

The Royals have a lot of SP depth and quality... but this is more of a quantity/depth hit than anything else.

Here's a 2016 SP depth chart (before the trade):

Volquez
Ventura
Duffy
Medlen
Lamb (maybe - if Zimmer, say, were ready to roll in spring training and performed well, they'd jump him in front of Lamb)
Zimmer (these three in a somewhat random order)
Manaea
Almonte
Finnegan
Reed

So you're losing guys 5, 9 and 10 out of your depth chart (and this assumes the Royals wouldn't have spent money on a FA guy to fill the 5th rotation spot).

2017 only looks slightly different.

2017
Volquez
Ventura
Duffy
Vargas
Medlen* (mutual option)
Zimmer
Manaea
Almonte
Lamb (at this point, the more highly regarded guys have probably developed past Lamb)
Reed (probably will have passed Finny at this point)
Finnegan

Beyond that, you're too far out to project much, but the Royals have a high number of guys who could be factoring into the equation (Scott Blewett, Foster Griffin, Pedro Fernandez, Ashe Russell, Nolan Watson) that are at lower levels currently.

It's not that the Royals didn't give up quality. They did. It just wasn't as much as some feared Cueto might cost, and it doesn't hurt the overall depth chart that much.

Houston and Toronto is my guess.

Buster Olney theorizing what if the Yankees went after Kimbrel. Screw that noise. If we got in a series with them they'd all be 4 inning games.

THIS! The Royals get hot, they can beat anyone in the playoffs.