First pitch: Monday, 7:05 p.m. ET
AL Championship Series – Game 3
I wLine: Kansas City +155, Toronto -165, Total: 8

The Blue Jays will be looking to avoid a 3-0 series deficit when they host the Royals in Game 3 on Monday.

The Blue Jays had a 3-0 lead in Game 2, but the Royals ended up scoring six unanswered runs to win the game 6-3. David Price unraveled for Toronto in that one and his postseason struggles continue to haunt him. The Jays must now come away with a Game 3 win or they will have a gigantic hole to climb out of to advance to the World Series. The starters for this pivotal game will be RHP Johnny Cueto (12-13, 3.46 ERA, 189 K) for Kansas City and RHP Marcus Stroman (4-0, 2.25 ERA, 27 K) for Toronto. Toronto should be confident playing on its home field on Monday, as the team is 3-1 against Kansas City at home this season. The Royals won’t be intimidated though, as they are 19-6 against the money line in October games over the past two seasons. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, are 27-8 against the money line as a home favorite of -150 to -200 this season. 2B Omar Infante (Oblique) is out indefinitely for Kansas City and RP Brett Cecil (Calf) is out for the season for Toronto.

Johnny Cueto will be looking to give his team a 3-0 lead and he will be feeling extremely confident after turning in his best performance as a Royal in Game 5 last round. Cueto pitched eight innings in that one and gave up just two earned runs with eight strikeouts and no walks. He was in complete control from the second inning on and will be looking to carry that momentum into this one on Monday. Offensively, both SS Alcides Escobar (.321, 1 RBI in playoffs) and DH Kendrys Morales (.240, 3 HR, 8 RBI in playoffs) have stepped up for Kansas City. Escober has been getting on base at will and has three doubles in the past three games. Morales, meanwhile, is providing this team with some much needed power and will need to keep doing so the rest of the way. OF Lorenzo Cain (.259, 1 HR, 3 RBI in playoffs) has gotten a hit in every playoff game thus far, but he still hasn’t truly broken out. He’s due for a multi-hit game shortly and there’s a good chance it comes on Monday.

The Blue Jays desperately need a victory in Game 3 and Marcus Stroman will be on the mound to keep them in this series. Stroman has been big time throughout this postseason, giving up just five earned runs over his two starts (13.0 IP). Toronto could really use another quality start out of him in this one. Offensively, DH Edwin Encarnacion (.320, 1 HR, 4 RBI in playoffs) has been the only Jays superstar that has been reliable hitting in the postseason. He will need to keep hitting while 3B Josh Donaldson (.231, 2 HR, 4 RBI in playoffs) and OF Jose Bautista (.222, 2 HR, 5 RB in playoffsI) try to find some consistency. 1B Chris Colabello (.375, 1 HR, 2 RBI in playoffs) has really stepped his game up for Toronto. If he can keep it up then it’d be a huge plus for this team.