Keith: No excuses for Yankees with only AL Central teams left in playoffs

The Yankees have their ALDS opponent after the Royals held off the Orioles to complete the two-game sweep in the Wild Card Series, and Kansas City will now head to the Bronx for game one on Saturday night.

The Yanks handled the Royals during the regular season, taking three of four in Kansas City (and nearly enjoyed a four-game sweep before a painful walk-off loss in the series finale) before taking two of three in the Bronx, and they will have the advantage of rest, as the Royals needed to use Cole Ragans and Seth Lugo in Baltimore.

With the Royals on deck, and the Astros eliminated, Keith says the time is now for the Yanks to make a run, and anything less will be a big disappointment.

“There’s no reason the Yankees don’t run through this American League and get to the Fall Classic,” Keith said.

The Yanks are the only team outside of the AL Central still left in the playoffs, and the Bombers handled that division during the regular season, going 13-6 against those teams (excluding the White Sox). Of course, Detroit is a much different team now, having just swept Houston, and Keith says if any team could pose a problem, it might be those upbeat Tigers.

“The Tigers are good enough,” Keith said. “They just beat the Astros, they have the manager, they have the ace. They just might be ignorant enough.”