As the trees change colour and lose their leaves and students write midterms, the seemingly interminable NBA preseason wears on, the NHL starts up, and the World Serious is on! That’s right folks, the only sport with significant games in the dreary fall is baseball—and it’s truly at it’s best.
After 162 regular-season games, two wild-card face-offs, four 5-game division series and two 7-game conference championships, the Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants are duking it out on the World Series stage. With the Series tied at one game apiece, let’s take a look at each team and how they will look to win it all.
San Francisco Giants: Regular season—88 wins, 74 losses, team batting average of .255 and team ERA of 3.50. Finished 2nd in NL West division, winner of the NL wild card match.
Kansas City Royals: Regular season—89 wins, 73 losses, team batting average of .263 and team ERA of 3.51. Finished 2nd in AL Central division, winner of AL wild card match in extra innings and winners of all 8 of their postseason games prior to Game 1 of the World Series.
Looking at key regular season stats, these two teams are clearly very close. While neither have stacked, Cy Young pitching, both have excellent bullpens and reliable workhorse starters. Each has an ace, being James Shields for the Royals, and Madison Bumgarner for the Giants, both of whom have contributed substantially to their teams’ playoff success. On the hitting side of things, the Royals are probably the better of the two, as DH Billy Butler, infielders Alcides Escobar, Omar Infante and centerfielder Lorenzo Cain leading the charge in game 2’s 7-2 rout of the San Francisco. However, the Giants are not to be overlooked, with 2012 World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval back for more along with hard-hitting Hunter Pence.
But we all know the past means little in these kinds of games. Game 3 goes ahead Friday night, effectively now game 1 of what has become a 5-game series. Note that the Series is shifting from Kauffman Stadium over to AT&T Park in San Francisco for games 3 through 5—and the rules change over from AL to NL. There will be no more designated hitter, meaning that regular Royals’ DH Billy Butler and Giants go-to batting man Michael Morse will not be able to start games. Getting a starter into trouble early or just down a couple of runs could prompt either skipper to lift their starter. This could be a real difference-maker in deciding a game. Expect to see a lot of pinch-hitting, particularly when games are tight.
Game 3 will feature quality starting pitching in Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals and Tim Hudson for the Giants. 39-year-old Hudson has never pitched in a World Series despite his long postseason careers. Guthrie, having spent most of his career in the AL, has not seen much of the Giants, so it will be interesting to see how they react. On the other hand, Hudson has held players on the Royals roster to a stingy .222 batting average. That being said, key Royals batters Butler, Cain and Gordon all have big hits against him.
This is definitely a hard game to call, but one would have to think the Giants will come out strong following their game 2 mauling back at Kansas City. But to win the Series? This is harder to predict still, but my hunch is the unlikely Kansas City Royals will finish what they started and become Baseball’s Unlikely Best.
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