Sweat blotted the brow of Johnny Cueto as he clambered over a railing and landed on the warning track along the first-base line at Kauffman Stadium. He had just completed running the ballpark’s steps, his ordinary exercise before a start that is anything but ordinary, Game 5 of the American League Division Series.
After a tumultuous 13 weeks, Wednesday could be the final outing of Cueto’s tenure in Kansas City. The Royals will hand him the baseball in an elimination game, the sort of scenario the organization envisioned when it acquired Cueto from the Reds in July. But the Royals do not intend to treat Cueto like an ace, given their well-stocked bullpen and Cueto’s shakiness down the stretch.