The Kansas City Royals have officially announced their 2015 ALDS roster today. Where there are no real surprises, some notable names will not be making the field in Jermey Guthrie and Johnny Gomes.

Pitchers:

1. Johnny Cueto

2. Yordano Ventura

3. Edinson Volquez

4. Danny Duffy

5. Chris Young

6. Wade Davis

7. Kelvin Herrera

8. Ryan Madson

9. Franklin Morales

10. Luke Hochevar

11. Kris Medlen

Catchers

12. Salvador Perez

13. Drew Butera

Infielders

14. Eric Hosmer

15. Ben Zobrist

16. Alcides Escobar

17. Mike Moustakas

18. Christian Colon

19. Kendrys Morales

Outfielders

20. Alex Gordon

21. Lorenzo Cain

22. Alex Rios

23. Jarrod Dyson

24. Paolo Orlando

25. Terrance Gore

In the end Orlando's offense, and Gore's speed outwieghted Gomes' bat. Gomes has struggled in his time with the Royals, only managing a .167 batting average while playing subpar defense. On a team that prides itself on defense and baserunning, Orlando seemed the obvious choice. While Gomes has been a masher of lefties in the past, he has fallen off this year and sports a .783 OPS against lefties. While that is decent, it is not enough to warrant a coveted 25 man roster spot when he has no other tools to offer.

With the exclusion of Guthrie, the Royals will only be starting one returning pitcher from last years playoff rotation — Yordano Ventura. With Shields gone via free agency, Vargas on the disabled list and Guthrie finding himself on the outside looking in, this is a completely different rotation than the one the Royals rode to game 7 of last years World Series. While on paper they match up as well as last season, it will be interesting to see how they compare in playoff performance. James Shields notably struggled in last years playoffs, as he has in much of his career.

Yordano Ventura secured the top spot in the rotation, and will be followed by Cueto and Volquez. It is possible he will pitch a game 4 if the situation dictates it.

Given it is a 5 game series, Jeremy Guthrie would probably not be needed, and if he had been its probably a lost game anyway.

Tonights game will take place at Kauffman Stadium, in Kansas City, Missouri, and will feature the Kansas City Royals vs. the Houston Astros at 6:37 CST.

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