Where this game could get sloppy is the bullpens. Kansas City's relief corps blew a 3-2 lead in the series opener, with Noah Cameron and John Schreiber combining to hand the game right back to L.A., and the Royals still own one of the league's worst marks in runs allowed. The Dodgers aren't spotless either — Blake Treinen, Brock Stewart, Ben Casparius and Brusdar Graterol are all out, thinning a pen that's had to lean harder on the front line. Neither side is walking into this one with a fully trusted relief unit.
Kansas City is buried at 49-71 and has dropped 2 straight, but the Royals aren't just showing up to get run over — Bobby Witt Jr. remains a threat on the bases and at the plate, and Sunday's near-upset of the division leaders was a bullpen collapse away from a much different result. In a bit of a strange subplot, the Royals also brought in 38-year-old Craig Kimbrel this week, a legacy-type signing that has little to do with this year's stretch run and more to do with getting a future Hall of Fame arm one more big-league inning.
The Dodgers are still comfortably in first place in the NL West, 7.5 games clear of Arizona, and that cushion is exactly why a game like this — against a 49-71 team, with a starter working his way back from surgery — carries real intrigue. If Snell looks anything like himself, it's one more piece slotting into a title-caliber rotation. If he doesn't, the questions about his health only get louder.