KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Resilience and perseverance are two traits that have come to epitomize the 2014 Kansas City Royals, who have turned into a playoff force with their run of late-inning wins.
They’re two qualities that the Baltimore Orioles had better embrace.
After taking the first two games of the American League Championship Series at the bandbox known as Camden Yards, the Royals return to spacious Kauffman Stadium needing two more wins to reach the World Series in their first playoff appearance since winning it all in 1985.
Game 3 is Monday night, with two more games on deck in Kansas City — the second only if needed. And make no mistake the Orioles are desperate to play all of them.
“You’ve got to win four games,” Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. “You’ve got to keep from losing three. And that’s obviously oversimplifying it. But you look at teams that compete during the course of the season, they compete on the road too.”
The Orioles were 46-35 on the road this season, a decent record but by no means the same level of dominance that they exhibited at home. And now their power-hitting lineup has to try to punch balls over the outfield fence at one of the least homer-friendly ballparks in the game, a stadium that lends itself to the Royals’ strong suits: pitching and defense.
The Orioles also will have to overcome a daunting bit of history. Since the best-of-seven format was adopted 29 years ago, none of the previous 11 teams that dropped the first two games of a league championship series at home rallied to reach the World Series.
“We’re grown men. We’re not little kids who need to sit in a circle and play ‘Duck, Duck, Goose,’ ” Orioles outfielder Adam Jones said, when asked whether there would be any special pep talks before the game.
“We’re just going to approach it as we’ve approached every game all season, and do what we do best.”
Wei-Yin Chen will start for the Orioles against former Baltimore pitcher Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie will be starting Monday night for the first time since Sept. 26, though he’s thrown simulated games and bullpen sessions to keep sharp.
