With both teams entering action this weekend with starts dramatically different than each enjoyed in 2016, the Kansas City Royals head to Minute Maid Park to face the American League West leading Houston Astros. No one needs reminding how terribly the Royals’ season has started, but the Astros have opened the season 3-1, the exact opposite of the 1-3 mark with which they opened last year en route to a dismal 17-28 start which buried their playoff hopes.
A popular choice to win the West, the Astros are loaded with high-ceiling talent and would pose an issue for the Royals regardless of whether they were coming into the series reeling, as they undoubtedly are after getting properly shellacked by the Twins.