Game thread XXXIX – Tigers at Royals
The next most important series of the season starts with this one.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - APRIL 10: Kris Bubic #50 of the Kansas City Royals pitches during the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium on April 10, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images) | Getty Images I know the Guardians series didn’t end how any of us wanted it to, but the Royals still split a four-game series against a tough team. That’s a win.
Especially if the Royals can win the series starting tonight, against the Tigers. By all rights, the Tigers should be in a bit of freefall right now. Tarik Skubal is on the IL for a couple of months, Framber Valdez is suspended.
Gleyber Torres joined multiple of the Tigers’ key contributors on the IL. With the series being played in Kansas City, the Royals really should at least take this series, and ideally, they’ll sweep it. As of this moment, the Tigers still haven’t announced the starters for the next two games, so if they can defeat Keider Montero tonight, they should be in good shape to take advantage of a division rival in disarray.
Montero is no slouch, of course, so the Royals won’t have an easy time of it tonight, but the offense has been clicking for a couple of weeks now. So hopefully they can do at least as well as they did back on April 16 when they roughed him up for four runs in six innings. That was the gut-punch game that saw the Royals lose 10-9 after a huge comeback and the rain delay, and made fans wonder if the team would ever win again.