Having AL's best record hasn't produced World Series berth much lately

By foxsports
Published

With six games remaining in the regular season and the American League's postseason home-field advantage yet to be determined, every game is big for the Kansas City Royals. That said, the club with the AL's best mark has made it to the World Series only once in the last five seasons.

LAST FIVE TEAMS WITH AMERICAN LEAGUE'S BEST RECORD

Season Team
 World Series?
2014 Los Angeles Angels No
2013 Boston Red Sox Yes
2012 New York Yankees
 No
2011 New York Yankees
 No
2010 Tampa Bay Rays No

The Royals are coming off a loss across town to the Chicago Cubs last night. An encouraging note as they move to the South Side of Chicago for three games: They've dominated the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field of late.

ROYALS VS. WHITE SOX -- LAST 25 GAMES AT U.S. CELLULAR FIELD

Statistic Royals White Sox
Wins 19 6
Runs per game 4.2 2.4
Starter ERA 2.60 4.18
Team batting average .274 .223
Home runs 22 21

Johnny Cueto, who gets the start in the series opener tonight, looks to be getting back on track just in time for the playoffs.

JOHNNY CUETO'S STATISTICS SINCE JOINING THE ROYALS

Statistic
 First four starts Next five starts Last two starts
W-L 2-1 0-5 1-0
ERA 1.80 9.57 3.21
Opponent batting average .222 .390 .278
WHIP 0.93 1.97 1.29
Home runs allowed
 1 8 0

It would be no surprise if designated hitter Kendrys Morales got a hit or two in each game against the White Sox. Lorenzo Cain, too, for that matter.

LONGEST ACTIVE HIT STREAKS BY ANY OPPOSING PLAYER AT U.S. CELLULAR FIELD

Player Current team Streak
Marco Scutaro San Francisco Giants 14 games
Maicer Izturis Toronto Blue Jays
 12 games
Kendrys Morales Kansas City Royals 10 games
Nori Aoki San Francisco Giants 10 games
Cliff Pennington Toronto Blue Jays
 9 games
Lorenzo Cain Kansas City Royals 7 games
Three others tied with   7 games