It may not be the World Series matchup any of us predicted, but the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals have proven throughout the postseason that they are the two best teams in Major League Baseball right now.
This matchup is also a testament to teams that are able to build through the draft, develop their farm systems and make smart trades. The Giants have the two best players in the series (Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner), but the Royals are loaded with young talent that has hit a stride at the perfect time.
Whatever happens, this series will be full of the drama, excitement and heartbreak that we've seen through the first two weeks of the postseason. Our predictions for what to expect are coming up as soon as we look at the schedule.
Kansas City's Starters Will Come To Play
While the Royals' bullpen has gotten so much attention in the postseason, deservedly so, the starters have not done much to support them.
Ned Yost has done a better job of not adhering to his misguided rule of only using certain relievers in certain spots. He finally started putting Kelvin Herrera in with one or two outs in the sixth inning, for instance, with the results being spectacular, per Richard Justice MLB.com:
The Royals needed every ounce of energy the bullpen had in the American League Championship Series, as their starters threw only 23 innings in four games. The longest start was 5.2 innings by Yordano Ventura in Game 2.
At some point, though, you would assume a starter has to do more for Kansas City to win a game. Game 1 will be a great litmus test because the Giants will presumably start Madison Bumgarner against James Shields.
Even though his nickname is "Big Game" James, Shields has been anything but in October, via ESPN Stats & Info:
Contrast that with Bumgarner, who has been virtually untouchable throughout his playoff career, per Baseball Reference:
The good news for Kansas City is the lineup it's facing in the World Series is vastly different from the Athletics, Angels and Orioles. Those three teams had at least two players who each hit at least 25 homers. The Giants didn't have one player who hit 25 homers and only two who broke the 20-homer barrier.
Facing a lineup that isn't as deep as the ones they saw before, the Royals' starting pitchers will be able to go deeper into games and ease some of the pressure on that bullpen. At the first sign of trouble, though, Yost should and will go back to the well.
Forget What Happened in August
The World Series will be the second time San Francisco and Kansas City have met this year. Their first series came in August at Kauffman Stadium, which the Royals swept. Some analysts have tried to use stats from that series as a preview for this matchup, such as Fox Sports' Jon Morosi:
However, when you stop to consider the randomness of baseball, anything that happened two months ago is wholly irrelevant. Tim Kawakami of The San Jose Mercury News also provided some reasons why you shouldn't let the August series sway your opinion:
For one: Tim Lincecum started Game 3 of that series and he will not be doing that in the World Series.
When the Giants and Royals faced each other for a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium in early August, the Royals were just starting to get red-hot (this series was in the middle of a 7-game winning streak and 11 of 12) and the Giants were still a little bit in their summer-long funk.
If Lincecum sees the mound in this series, it will only be because something has gone horribly wrong with Bruce Bochy's bullpen.
The Giants and Royals are completely different teams now. They're managed differently, play differently and are winning games in various ways that they weren't doing two months ago. There's nothing to be gleaned from that August series, so block it out of your memory.
Kansas City Will Win The World Series
It's one of the strangest predictions ever because it doesn't feel real, but the Royals are going to be the 2014 World Series champions. Their postseason winning streak will be broken in this series because the Giants are too good not to win one game, but the race to four wins will be won by the American League champions.
The reason for this prediction is actually quite simple: Kansas City has more ways to win a game than San Francisco. I wish it were more complex than that, but sometimes the simplest answer is the right one.
For instance, look at how the Giants and Royals got to this point. Both teams have gotten brilliant bullpen performances, via Kawakami:
Their separation comes on offense. The Royals are more diverse in the ways they can score runs, as Morosi noted:
They led the league in stolen bases during the regular season and have used that speed to great effect in the postseason. They stole seven bases against Oakland in the Wild Card Game, then found power against the Angels and Orioles with eight home runs in their last seven games.
Keep in mind the Royals only had 95 home runs in 162 regular season games, so power wasn't supposed to be a part of their game.
Looking at San Francisco's run through the playoffs, it's gotten away with mistakes at various times. Bumgarner gave Washington a win with a throwing error in Game 3 of the Division Series. Nationals reliever Aaron Barrett threw a wild pitch in Game 4 to give the Giants a run and win.
In the NLCS, Mike Matheny managed a horrible series. Randy Choate was the goat in Game 3 with a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt. Matheny put Michael Wacha in a no-win situation in the ninth inning of Game 5 after he hadn't pitched since the end of September.
Those mistakes won't be there for the Giants against a Kansas City team that's played dazzling defense all year, especially in October. Combine that with a great bullpen and do-anything offense, and the Royals will be champions.
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