This series features two of the great young shortstops in the game, Bobby Witt Jr.of the Royals and Gunnar Henderson of the Orioles. Both looked like potential MVP candidates during the season. Both are all over the AL Leaderboard, especially in the endurance categories. Both got on base, both hit for power, both might have split the MVP vote in a year that didn’t include Aaron Judge.

The Orioles averaged 0.31 runs per game more than the Royals, while Kansas City allowed 0.33 fewer runs per game than the Orioles. If you think that should make the teams pretty evenly matched you would be right. The Orioles won 91 games, one more than expected, while the Royals won 86 games, five fewer than expected. So don’t let the records cloud your judgement too much.

The Royals may not bet that deep on offense, however. The team had some trouble when first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino went down with an injury. The Royals were 71-60 when he played, 15-16 when he didn’t. There is a chance he returns for the playoffs.

The home field advantage works well for Baltimore. They not only played well at home, they played slightly better on the road. The Royals, on the other hand, went 41-40 away. This should be a fun series, we’ll see which shortstop shines more, but my guess is that Baltimore takes the series in three games.