One team will end a long World Series drought in ALCS, plus other notes

The Kansas City Royals held Major League Baseball's highest scoring team to six runs and a .170 batting average and swept the Angels in the American League Division Series. The Orioles held baseball's second highest scoring team to 10 runs and a .218 average in a sweep of Detroit. Now the Orioles host the Royals in the American League Championship Series as these clubs meet for the first time in the postseason. It's been a combined 60 years since the Orioles (1983) and Royals (1985) each last reached the World Series, which is the longest combined drought of any ALCS matchup in history. The previous record was the 59 years combined for Cleveland and Seattle in the 1995 ALCS. One of these teams will finally make it back to the World Series. But how will the fans around the nation feel about watching the Orioles and Royals? The teams that always seem to get the most coverage and most national TV games like the Yankees, Red Sox and Tigers are out. The TV ratings were good on Sunday when both these teams won Game 3. The Royals' 8-3 win over the Angels drew 4.4 million viewers on TBS, an increase of 29 percent over the comparable game last year, while the Orioles' 2-1 win over the Tigers earlier in the day drew 3.3 million viewers on TBS, up 14 percent over its comparable game last year. Baltimore and K.C. are two of the smallest TV markets in baseball. We know local fans will be glued to every pitch and the excitement in both cities will be at a fever pitch. But, in this story on Foxsports.com, Ken Rosenthal wondered if fans around the nation will be watching. He wrote: "I mean, this is what many of you want, right? People tell me all the time, 'The networks need to show teams other than the Yankees and Red Sox.' Well, thanks to the outcomes of the two American League Division Series, fans no longer will be bound and gagged and forced to watch the despicable northeast monsters against their collective will." The O's and Royals are fresh teams with fresh stories and energized fan bases that rock their ballparks. It should make for a good series and should make for good ratings. Other notes on the O's and Royals: * The ALDS sweep was the O's fifth in the postseason. They swept the 1969, '70 and '71 AL Championship Series 3-0 and won the 1966 World Series over the Dodgers in a four-game sweep. * The Royals' sweep of the Angels was their second all-time in the postseason. Kansas City swept New York 3-0 in the 1980 ALCS. * The K.C. bullpen allowed just one run over 12 innings against Los Angeles. The Orioles bullpen allowed three runs in 12 innings versus Detroit. * During the regular season the Royals stole 5-of-5 bases against the Orioles with Nori Aoki, Lorenzo Cain, Pedro Ciriaco, Jarrod Dyson and Alcides Escobar getting one each. * In team stats from this season, the Orioles were first in MLB in homers (211) but last in stolen bases (44). Kansas City was last in homers (95) but first in stolen bases (153). * Since May 30, 2013 K.C. closer Greg Holland is 86-for-89 in save chances. That is 96.6 percent. * Since 2011, the Orioles' Delmon Young has the highest postseason slugging percentage in MLB (minimum 80 at-bats) at .606. Carlos Beltran (.571) is second and Miguel Cabrera (.556) is third. * In the 2014 regular season, Kansas City went 22-25 in one-run games and 5-7 in extra innings games. This postseason, the Royals are 2-0 in one-run games and 3-0 in extra-innings games.