What makes Royals a dangerous ALCS opponent for the Yankees

There was a time nearly a half-century ago in which the Yankees had been to the Royals what the recent Astros had been to the Yankees — the ALCS mountain they could not climb.The George Brett Royals lost to the Yankees in the ALCS in 1976, ’77 and ’78.They got a fourth ALCS rematch two years later, Brett memorably took Goose Gossage deep, ended that hex and went to their first World Series.The Yankees, who lost the ALCS to the Astros in 2017, ’19 and ’22, did not get a rematch this postseason.

Instead, they received a dream draw.The Astros and Orioles were eliminated and the Tigers and Royals moved on to join the Guardians as three AL Central foes along with the Yankees vying for the pennant — and the Yanks have owned that division, especially in October since 2017.So the road to a first World Series appearance since 2009 opened wider for the Yankees.

But as one AL executive said in noting that no one should be surprised by any postseason series result because of the small sample, “KC has what — a 40 percent chance to win this series? Of course, they can beat the Yankees.It’s just more likely that they don’t.”How they would revolves around excellent starting pitching, a bizarre schedule and unnerving speed.With the assistance of two scouts and one executive, these were the key areas for the Royals:You want a road to an upset, it begins at the start: There is extreme pressure on the Yankees to win the opener behind Gerrit Cole because the starting pitching advantage switches to Kansas City for Games 2 and 3 with Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo, who both may finish in the top five for AL Cy Young.Ragans is the kind of lefty who has unplugged the Yankees all season.

The Yankees were just 21-23 against lefty starters this year.Aaron Judge’s 1.240 OPS was the majors’ best against southpaws.

Juan Soto was sensational at .966.But the Yanks are really going to need Gleyber Torres and Giancarlo Stanton to do some damage, too.By Baseball Reference’s...