Jon Lester’s postseason success provides helpful lesson plan for Royals 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Having to face left-hander Jon Lester in a postseason game is a task no opponent should relish. Lester’s reputation in the playoffs is second to few, and his 2.11 ERA in 76 2/3 career innings for the Boston Red Sox backs it up. And yet as postseason neophytes, the Kansas City Royals could benefit from Lester being on the mound for the Oakland Athletics, if players take stock in what he said before, and how he acts during, the American League wild card game Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.
“Believe it or not, I’ve always tried to take the same approach, whether it’s April 15th or this game now,” Lester said Monday afternoon. “The competitiveness in me does not allow me to throttle back or throttle more, or whatever. Same mentality, same preparation, same routine. Nothing changes because the game means more. I think that keeps me even-keeled.”
Qualifying for the wild card brought great joy and relief for the Royals and A’s, but it will be short-lived for one team, because the game’s loser goes home for the winter. That doesn’t afford the Royals much time to get themselves used to being in the playoffs for the first time in 29 years. The stakes also might be a benefit, says playoff-tested right-hander James Shields, who starts opposite Lester.
“We’ve just got to really focus on this one game and go from there,” Shields said. “If we start thinking too far ahead, or the “magnitude of the 29 years,” we’re thinking the wrong things. We need to think about hitting the ball, we need to think about pitching, we need to think about defense.
“As long as we do that, we’ll be just fine at the end of the day.”
The Royals don’t have too many places to look other than Shields for wisdom about the postseason. Most of the cumulative playoff experience for Kansas City players comes from second baseman Omar Infante and pinch-hitter Raul Ibañez. Reserve infielder Jayson Nix has a little too. The Royals can’t even rely on manager Ned Yost to “know what it’s like,” at least as a manager. The Milwaukee Brewers fired him in the final days of the 2008 season before they made the playoffs.
Yost has been to the playoffs as a coach and player, though, and says there’s not much he can tell the Royals anyway.
“Go play, have fun. It’s the same game,” Yost said. “I mean, it’s what we did yesterday.”
As Yost also notes, “yesterday wasn’t do or die.”
The best chance for the Royals to put themselves in position to play their best possible game is to pretend the wild card doesn’t literally mean the season’s over if you lose. It’s a bit of a mind trick, but it’s also one of the ways Lester has been so successful. If the Royals take what Lester’s learned and use it against him, they give themselves a chance.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
