Lowly Royals have become quite the spoilers
This wasn't a run you saw coming — but then again, you rarely do when a baseball team starts to play spoiler.
The Kansas City Royals, who reached 100 losses more than two weeks ago and have been out of contention for almost the entire season, suddenly became a huge thorn in the side of the defending champions. The Royals went 5-1 in two recent series against the Astros, including a sweep over the weekend in Houston, leaving the Astros in a precarious spot in the Americal League playoff race.
Kansas City has won six in a row and 10 of its last 11 games. The Royals also had a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians last week
Even after that impressive stretch, the Royals have the second-worst record in baseball at 54-102, but you wouldn't have known it watching those matchups with Houston. And the Astros looked nothing like the World Series champs from a season ago.
On Friday night, Kansas City scored seven runs on only five hits in a win over Framber Valdez. The next evening, Jordan Lyles pitched five scoreless innings and improved to 5-17 on the year for the Royals. On Sunday, the Royals slugged four home runs in a 6-5 victory.
A nice September stretch doesn't necessarily mean Kansas City will be contending again anytime soon. The Royals have one of the game's top young players in Bobby Witt Jr., who has 29 home runs and 48 steals, but don't have anyone on MLB Pipeline's list of the top 100 prospects.
For now, the Astros can be glad they won't see the Royals again until next season.
Statistical races
There will be plenty of debate over the postseason awards — the National League MVP in particular — but the statistical leaders in a season are determined by the cold, hard numbers.
Among the closer races: Corey Seager (Rangers) leads Yandy Diaz (Rays) .333 to .328 for the AL batting title. Kevin Gausman (Blue Jays) leads Pablo Lopez (Twins) 232-228 in the AL strikeouts race. Gerrit Cole (Yankees) leads Sonny Gray (Twins) 2.75 to 2.80 for the AL ERA title.
In one interesting twist, Lyles is one of only two pitchers in the majors with three complete games, joining the Marlins' Sandy Alcantara — who also has a losing record. All three of Lyles' complete games were losses, including two of the eighth-inning variety when the home team didn't have to bat in the ninth.
Attendance boosts
• The surprising playoff-contending Cincinnati Reds drew 2 million fans to Great American Ball Park for the first time since 2015. The season total of 2,038,302 included 10 sellouts, most since 2012. Those numbers came after a record-low attendance of 7,375 on April 17 before the arrival of young stars such as Elly De La Cruz.
• The American League West-leading Texas Rangers drew 35,412 fans for their home finale against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday to finish the season at 2,533,044, an average of 31,272. The total was the club's largest since 2016, the last time Texas had a winning record. The Rangers saw a 26% increase from last season, the biggest year-to-year jump since a 31% increase from 1995 to 1996.