The formula for a World Series title is simple at this point of the MLB playoffs for the three remaining teams—four more wins for the New York Mets, five more wins for the Kansas City Royals or six more wins for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Baseball fans already know the Mets will represent the Senior Circuit in the Fall Classic after they swept the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series. While many expected the young Cubs hitters to lead the snake-bitten franchise to its first World Series appearance since 1945, the flamethrowers on the New York pitching staff shut them down.
It also helped having the unexplainably hot Daniel Murphy leading the Mets offense. Murphy now has seven home runs in the postseason and hit a long ball in each of the last six games.
The Cubs couldn’t overcome Murphy and the pitching staff and never led a single game of the short series.
As for the American League Championship Series, the Royals lead the Blue Jays 3-2 with the showdown shifting back to Kansas City for the remainder. Kansas City was 51-30 at home this season and only has to win one of two if it plans on reaching the World Series two years in a row.
With that in mind, here is a look at the complete World Series schedule and broadcast information, courtesy of MLB.com.
Predicted World Series Matchup: New York Mets vs. Toronto Blue Jays
If you know people predicting a different National League team than the Mets, you should probably tell them to catch up on the rest of the postseason on their DVR. Picking the Blue Jays despite the 3-2 deficit and two do-or-die games on the road is going out on more of a limb.
However, must-win games are nothing new for this Toronto team, and it played its best baseball of the postseason in those situations. The Blue Jays fell behind 2-0 in the best-of-five division series against the Texas Rangers and proceeded to win three consecutive games, each by at least three runs. They also won Game 5 of the ALCS by six runs while facing a 3-1 deficit.
In all, the Blue Jays pitchers boast a 4-0 mark with a 2.00 ERA in four elimination games this postseason. Baseball Tonight highlighted Toronto’s impressive company in such contests:
The Blue Jays will also send the right two starters to the mound in Games 6 and 7.
Potential American League Cy Young winner David Price will look to shake off his postseason demons (he is 0-7 in seven career playoff starts and sports a 5.24 postseason ERA) and force a final showdown for the right to play in the World Series. If there is a seventh contest, Marcus Stroman will toe the rubber.
Despite the ugly playoff numbers from Price, he is still one of the most talented pitchers in the league. He was 18-5 this season with a 2.45 ERA and sported a 2.30 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 87 strikeouts in 74.1 innings during the playoff chase for Toronto after it acquired him from the Detroit Tigers.
Jose Bautista is confident with the southpaw on the mound, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com: "It's a good feeling. We're still up against the wall. We're going to take it one day at a time. Game 6 is going to be a huge one, obviously."
Stroman will follow Price, and he was brilliant for the Blue Jays down the stretch this season with four September starts after he recovered from an ACL injury that forced him to miss most of the season. Stroman won all four games with a 1.67 ERA and sparkling 0.96 WHIP.
He also already pitched one decisive contest this postseason in Game 5 of the division series and allowed two earned runs in six innings of work as the Blue Jays earned a spot in the ALCS. The pressure of the moment will not overwhelm him.
Dan Shulman of ESPN pointed to the two pitchers and Toronto’s success in elimination games when discussing the team’s chance to win the American League:
Price and Stroman will also have the league’s best offense playing a supporting role. Fans saw what the Blue Jays are capable of in Games 3 and 5 when they scored a combined 18 runs in their two victories of this series.
Toronto led the major leagues in runs scored, home runs, RBI, doubles, total bases, slugging percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage this season. Eight Toronto players hit double-digit home runs in 2015, including 41 from MVP candidate Josh Donaldson, 40 from Bautista and 39 from Edwin Encarnacion.
Safe to say, this is an offense that is more than capable of winning two games on the road with the series on the line.
The Blue Jays are still within striking distance of the World Series even though Bautista is 4-for-15 without a long ball and Encarnacion is 4-for-19 without a dinger in the ALCS. If those two heat up and Donaldson and Troy Tulowitzki stay hot, the Royals will be in trouble.
That is exactly what will happen.
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