Tuesday, I wrote about the Royals’ new options regarding their postseason rotation, with the extra day off – thanks, Mother Nature – allowing Ned Yost to start James Shields on normal rest in Game 4, and skip either Jason Vargas or Jeremy Guthrie altogether in the ALCS.
He’s not doing that. Wednesday, Yost announced that Guthrie will start Game 3, Vargas Game 4, and Shields Game 5 with an extra day of rest.
I don’t see any down-side here for the Royals. Shields was going to start just once more in this series, regardless. He might be somewhat more effective with the extra day of rest. And there’s also the chance that the Royals will sweep the O’s, in which case Shields will have a nice long rest before the World Series.
Of course, if the World Series were a serious consideration, Yost would have waited on his Game 4 decision until after Game 3. Really, it’s just a question of when Shields gets his rest. If he starts Game 4 here on regular rest, he starts Game 1 of the Serious – and yes, I know this series isn’t over yet – with an extra day. If he starts Game 5 of this series, he starts Game 1 on regular rest.
All of which seem like arcane considerations, and probably are. I think this is one of those lovely situations where it’s hard to do anything obviously wrong. Because quite frankly, Shields just isn’t good enough where you’d want to start him on short rest.
