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KANSAS CITY Martin Maldonado Jersey , Mo. (AP) — The consensus among prognosticators is that the Chicago White Sox or Kansas City Royals will finish in the bottom of the AL Central, and whichever avoids the cellar won’t fare a whole lot better.Well, one of them will soon be undefeated.The White Sox and Royals meet Thursday at Kauffman Stadium for the start of a season-opening three-game series. The rivals are supposed to have Friday off before continuing through the weekend, but there is rain in the forecast for opening day, which could mean pushing back the pomp and circumstance.Regardless of the weather — or expectations, for that matter — both clubs are eager to get going.“I say it’s been a long spring,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Wednesday, “but it was really short for me. I enjoyed watching these kids play. But we’ve done enough playing when it doesn’t count. These guys want to play for something. I hope the weather cooperates for us. It’s a little iffy.”The White Sox and Royals are both coming off 100-loss seasons, leaving them separated by four games in the AL Central cellar. But both are also in the midst of major rebuilding efforts, and the success of that work ultimately could be measured in more ways than simply wins and losses.Then again, good luck telling anyone in the clubhouse that winning doesn’t matter.“All these guys realized they can compete here. They got an opportunity last season and they got confidence going into this year that, ‘I belong here,'” Yost explained. “That’s a big step. We have that going for us, which we didn’t have last year.”Carlos Rodon will take the hill Thursday for the White Sox, their fifth different opening day starter in five seasons. He’s hoping to stay healthy this season after a wave of injuries, and perhaps bounce back from a poor finish to last season.The spotlight won’t be on Rodon, though. It figures to be on outfielder Eloy Jimenez, one of the top prospects in baseball http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-cozart-jersey , who signed a $43 million, six-year deal that takes service time out of the equation and essentially assured he will start on opening day — and for the foreseeable future.Fellow outfielder Jon Jay is starting the season on the injured list, but the White Sox figure to have plenty of offense from the likes of Jose Abreu, Yoan Moncada and Leury García.“I think we have guys that, if something should occur, we have enough depth and guys that should keep us moving along,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “Everybody cringes when something happens to a player, and we do too, but I think we’re in a much better place now than we were three years ago.”The Royals will send Brad Keller to the mound on opening day after the 23-year-old right-hander had an impressive rookie campaign. He went 9-6 with a 3.08 ERA while transitioning from the bullpen to the starting rotation, where he wound up taking the ball 20 times with one complete game.Behind him, questions abound.The Royals are trying to return to the speed-and-defense roots that carried them to back-to-back World Series and the 2015 championship. But nobody is quite sure whether the trio of speedster Billy Hamilton, shortstop Adalberto Mondesi and second baseman Whit Merrifield will be able to produce enough runs with their legs alone to make up for what should be modest pop in the lineup.There are also questions in the rotation and the bullpen, which was retooled with the addition of Jake Diekman and Brad Boxberger after a historically awful 2018 campaign.The first opportunity to see whether any of those moves paid off will be Thursday.Or Friday, if the weather turns sour. CLEVELAND (AP) — When the challenge arose in August, the Houston Astros responded like champions.They’re doing it again in October.Two months ago, last year’s World Series winners hit one of those predictable lulls that every team encounters during the dog days of a season. Maybe feeling a bit overconfident and invincible, the Astros were caught atop the AL West by the Oakland Athletics, a scrappy squad that sneaked up on everyone in 2018.But just when it appeared the Astros might be in some trouble Darin Erstad Jersey , they switched on their after-burners. After Aug. 18, Houston went 29-10 to finish with 103 wins.“There is an extra gear that our guys have,” explained manager A.J. Hinch. “And once we hit the postseason, it looks like, as of right now, our guys really, really turned it on.”Showing no weaknesses while exposing Cleveland’s flaws at every opportunity, the Astros took another step toward defending their crown Monday by finishing off a surprisingly easy three-game AL Division Series sweep with an 11-3 blowout of the Indians, who were overmatched on the mound, at the plate and in the field.Houston outscored Cleveland 21-6. The Astros outhit the Indians .327 to .144 and banged out eight homers with making an error.“They beat us in every area of the game,” said Indians reliever Trevor Bauer, whose two throwing errors in the seventh inning of Game 3 propelled Houston’s convincing clincher. “They’re tough, man. They keep coming. We didn’t play our best. I’m not sure if they played their best either, but they played much better than we did. And so, the better team won.”The Astros, who have some time to relax and get ready for the Boston-New York series survivor in the ALCS, can win in so many different ways.They have one of baseball’s best rotations, anchored by Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole http://www.angelsfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-cozart-jersey , a devastating 1-2 pitching punch that staggered the Indians in Houston. The Astros can play long ball, small ball and any kind of ball needed with a balanced lineup loaded with contact hitters.Sure, they’ve got All-Stars in Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, but the Astros are a selfless group that plays as one.“We have the most complete team in baseball,” Verlander said between puffs on a cigar as his teammates showered each other with champagne in the clubhouse. “I’ve been part of really special teams, but the drive to win here trumps everything else. Everybody is OK with whoever is the hero.”It was Verlander in Game 1, Marwin Gonzalez in Game 2, and George Springer was among a number of deserving candidates with two homers in Game 3.Springer has found his groove at just the right time. The 2017 World Series MVP was sidelined by a sprained left thumb that landed him on the disabled list in August. He struggled after returning and connected on just three homers over the final six weeks of the regular season.The postseason is his playground.Springer hit three homers in the final two ALDS game, giving him a franchise record 10 postseason homers.“I said this to our team in there — special teams do special things in October,” Hinch said. “And I believe that about players. George is one of them. We’ve seen him come up as an uber-prospect, produce at an uncanny level, hit the lowest of the lows in the World Series and then be the World Series MVP.“I don’t think this should surprise anyone. He’s a really special player.”On a really special team.Before his team was pushed aside by the Astros, Indians manager Terry Francona sat at his office desk and described what makes them so good.“Well, besides the talent, because they are obviously really talented, I do think they do a really good job of playing until the game’s over,” he said. “Like it’s been noticeable for a while. You know some times, like I think I said this the other day Shohei Ohtani Jersey , when you beat them, sometimes they just run out of time.“You gotta have talent, but when you have talent and you play the game the right way, so that’s why they have a lot of ways to come at you.”Oddly, the Astros seem to get overlooked, lost deep in the heart of Texas amid the endless debate about whether the Yankees or Red Sox are the league’s best.Houston makes its case on the field.“That’s a big-time rivalry and I understand that,” Springer said, adding the Astros aren’t craving publicity. “But it’s all about us and our task at hand. That’s all we focus on. We’re going to sit back and watch and see what happens.”While he watched his young teammates party after another postseason triumph, Verlander looked like a proud father. He arrived last season to help the Astros get over the hump, and now that they have, there’s no going backward.“At no point this season was there any complacency with this team,” he said. “If I had been traded here after they won the World Series, instead of before it last year, I would have assumed this was a young and hungry team when I walked in the clubhouse.“No one takes anything for granted here. That’s the DNA of the guys in this clubhouse. This team has a propensity to do big things in big spots.”