The Athletics and Kansas City Royals are meeting for some afternoon baseball at Kauffman Stadium on August 20 at 2:10 PM EDT, with coverage on MLB.TV and Royals.TV. In a delightful twist of statistical comedy, both of these squads have clawed their way to the exact same .244 team batting average, proving that there are indeed multiple ways to achieve perfectly synchronized offensive silence. Oakland brings its 49-77 record into Missouri hoping shortstop Jacob Wilson can heal up from his day-to-day status, while pitcher Jeffrey Springs remains safely out of the blast radius on the 15-day injured list.
To prevent this regular season matinee from devolving into a complete batting practice session, Kansas City is handing the ball to Randy Dobnak, who boasts a shiny 1.73 ERA that must look like a typo to the rest of his bullpen. He will trade pitches with Oakland's J.T. Ginn, a man trying to survive behind an Athletics defense carrying a bloated 5.47 team ERA—which makes Kansas City’s 4.77 ERA look like the '95 Braves by comparison. Head over to StreakChat to lock in your pick and tell us if you think this pitching matchup will actually survive the afternoon.