Kansas City Royals expect big crowds at Kauffman Stadium this weekend. Here’s why
This weekend’s Royals-Dodgers series at Kauffman Stadium is a prime example of why Major League Baseball in 2023 changed the way it makes the schedule.
The new format means every MLB team will visit each stadium at least once every two years.
And, so, the defending World Series champion Dodgers are coming to Kansas City with three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani.
And that explains why the Royals, who have yet to win a game at home this month, nevertheless are expecting big crowds this weekend. It is shaping up to be the best-attended series of the season with crowds potentially topping 30,000 each day, although the Royals stressed tickets are still available.
The Royals haven’t had crowds of 30,000 or more for three games in a series at Kauffman Stadium since 2016. In September of that year, attendance topped 30,000 each day of the final three games of a four-game series against the Chicago White Sox.
The last time the Royals had 30,000 or more fans at each game of a true three-game series was July 22-24, 2016, against the Rangers.
Shohei Ohtani will pitch vs. Royals
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Thursday that Ohtani will start Saturday’s game at Kauffman Stadium, MLB.com’s Sonja Chen reported.
Ohtani, who finished fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2022 with the Angels, didn’t pitch last year after having elbow surgery. He returned to the mound earlier this month and has had a pair of one-inning outings, allowing a run on two hits with two strikeouts.
At the plate, Ohtani leads the National League in home runs (28), runs (80), slugging percentage (.633) and OPS (1.025). He has 52 runs batted in as one of four Dodgers with more than 50 RBIs.
The others are Andy Pages (54), Teoscar Hernández (53) and Max Muncy (51).
Los Angeles is tied with the Tigers for the best record in baseball at 51-31. The Dodgers have won 10 of their last 12 games and have scored an MLB-best 462 runs, 25 more than the second-place Cubs.
Catcher Will Smith has a league-best .325 average and .422 on-base percentage.
So it’s more than the Ohtani Show, but he’s a baseball unicorn and certainly will be a reason why so many fans will fill the seats at Kauffman Stadium.
The good news for a scuffling Royals offense is LA’s pitching staff has a 4.49 ERA, which is 24th in baseball.
And two years ago, the Royals lost 106 games but took two of three from the Dodgers at Kauffman Stadium. LA won 100 games that year.
After the Royals won the series finale, Dodgers manager said: “Those guys just outplayed us. It’s a different brand of baseball as far as putting the ball in play, hitting behind runners, stealing bases. They were excellent at situational hitting. And so, to be quite honest, we couldn’t keep up. That’s how they beat us, that’s how they won the series.”
