Park: Kauffman Stadium, aka "The K." Capacity: 37,903. Once infamous for its inhumanely hot artificial turf surface -- very '70s, don't you know -- Kauffman now sports natural grass, generous dimensions (410 feet to center field, 387 in the alleys) and a 322-foot-wide water feature that the Royals say is "the largest privately funded fountain in the world."
Team: The Royals, named after a livestock show, were part of Major League Baseball's 1969 expansion, which added two teams each to the American and National leagues. In its first 17 years, the team was fabulously successful, winning American League West titles in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1984 and 1985. The Royals made it to World Series in 1980 (losing to the Philadelphia Phillies) and 1985 (coming from behind to beat cross-state rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals). This year marks the first time since 1985 the team has played in the postseason.
Immortal: Third baseman George Brett was a key member of the great Royals teams of the '70s and '80s and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. Brett was at the center of two memorable chapters in major league history -- staging a bid to hit .400 in 1980 (he finished at a magnificent .390) and, of course, the Pine-Tar Incident.
Manager: Ned Yost. He's in his fifth year with the Royals (his prior managerial experience was with the Milwaukee Brewers). He's got a sub-.500 record as a skipper and is managing in the postseason for the first time. But did we mention the Royals haven't lost a game in the playoffs? Maybe experience is overrated. (Here's a nice piece on Yost from ESPN: Yost just right for the Royals.)
Key players:
James Shields, starting pitcher and staff ace. He'll start Game 1 against the Giants' Bumgarner. He has been anything but dominant in the postseason, getting beaten up some by both the A's in the wild-card game and again in his last appearance, in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Orioles, when he gave up four runs on 10 hits over five innings. (A mitigating factor, perhaps: He passed a kidney stone during the ALCS. Yikes.)
Mike Moustakas, third base. With four home runs in the postseason, he's led the Royals' playoff power surge. The team was dead last in the majors in the regular season, with 95 home runs total. They're second in playoff homers, with eight.
Lorenzo Cain, center field. An outstanding fielder, Cain's also been one of the Royals hot playoff bats, hitting .353 overall, including .533 in the ALCS vs. Baltimore.
Greg Holland, closer. Holland anchors a dominant Royals bullpen and has earned saves in six of the Royals' eight playoff wins.
Game 1 TV, time and temperature: Fox (KTVU-Channel 2 in the Bay Area) at 5 p.m. PDT. Forecast high for Tuesday in Kansas City is 70 degrees under clear skies; temperature will fall into the 50s during the game.
Unofficial recently adopted team pump-up song: "We Ready," by Archie Eversole.
