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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.