American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. In today’s edition, Robert Pannier previews the first-round playoff series between the Lincoln Saltdogs and the Kansas City Monarchs.

The Matchup

The Kansas City Monarchs (65-35) begin their quest for a second straight American Association title as they begin a three-game series with the Lincoln Saltdogs (49-51) on Wednesday. Kansas City took the final three games against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks over the weekend to earn the top record in the American Association. The club set a league record for homeruns and finished with the top batting average, the top earned run average, and the second-best fielding percentage.

This is a group that has had to make a number of replacements to their roster, but manager Joe Calfapietra has figured out a way. He has become a master at retooling as the season has gone along, and this club continues to roll despite losing three of their top homerun hitters.

The Lincoln Saltdogs needed to sweep the final three games against the Sioux City Explorers in Sioux City to earn the final playoff spot in the West. That is exactly what they did, making a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. This club is clearly the underdog, and will need to put together an historic series to advance.

Tale of the Tape:

(League ranking shown in parentheses)

Lincoln Saltdogs:
Team Batting Average: .261 (10)
HR: 88 (12)
Runs Scored: 498 (10)
Team ERA: 5.04 (7)
Team Fielding Percentage: .976 (9)

Kansas City Monarchs:
Team Batting Average: .293 (1)
HR: 165 (1)
Runs Scored: 696 (1)
Team ERA: 4.40 (1)
Team Fielding Percentage: .984 (2)

Series Schedule

Wednesday, September 7 – in Lincoln, 7:05
Friday, September 9 – in Kansas City, 6:30
Saturday, September 10 (if necessary) – in Kansas City, 6:30

Keys for Lincoln Saltdogs

The most important thing Lincoln can do is to ignore statistics. Kansas City finished with 200 more runs scored and nearly 80 more homeruns during the regular season. That is a lot but must be ignored. This is a new season, and that is the way this team has to approach the series.

Greg Minier needs to set the tone in Game 1 and the rest of the club needs to feed off him. Minier has the talent to shut down the Monarchs and, if he can dominate in Game 1, he can give this team some momentum that would be beneficial to taking a game in Kansas City.

Josh Altmann was an MVP candidate last season, but had an average year, hitting .269 with 15 homers and 69 RBI. He is going to have to put together a spectacular series, boasting the offense while getting big hits.

Keys for Kansas City Monarchs

The most important thing that Kansas City can do is to simply be themselves. This is the top offense in the league. This is the top pitching staff in the league. This is one of the top two defenses in the league. Playing their brand of baseball is where it starts.

The Monarchs must find someone beyond Matt Hall to pitch well in the series. Hall has had a ridiculously good season, but the rest of the starting staff is vulnerable. Nick Belzer or Matt Hartman, if not both, are going to need to get back to where they were eight weeks ago.

If there is a weakness in this Monarchs team, it is the bullpen. Alex Valdez has done a great job taking over in the closer’s role, but the combination of Jameson McGrane, Brian Glowicki, and Brandon Koch have not been very good in the last three weeks. If they allow Lincoln to stay in games, leaving it up to the Kansas City bullpen to close the door, the Saltdogs have a real shot.

Listen to the Voice of the Kansas City Monarchs, Dan Vaughan, Jr., and his take on the series.

Who Wins the Series

This is truly a David vs. Goliath series. Lincoln has no business winning this series, and they need to embrace that. They are playing with house money, with literally nothing to lose here. Everyone expects them to be beaten badly, so they need to come in here and just enjoy the ride. Playing loose could give them a big edge.

However, Kansas City is just too good. They really only need one good performance out of their starting pitching staff and for the bullpen to be competent to win games. There is just so much offense and Lincoln cannot keep up with that.

Take Kansas City to win in two.

By Robert Pannier