Giants-Royals World Series Preview
The Kansas City Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles in 4 games, and they advanced to their first World Series appearance in 29 years. The San Francisco Giants on the other hand, won the series against the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1, and they advanced to their third World Series in the past 5 years. This series should live up to the hype. Both teams are known for having amazing starting pitching, a lights out bullpen, and great, timely hitting.
The Royals one major advantage over the Giants is their speed, and it has been present all preseason. It all started in the Wild Card Game when Alcedis Escobar stole 2nd base, and at the time they were down by 4. That play sparked an epic rally and they came back to beat the Athletics 9-8. Jerrod Dyson stole 2 bases, Terrance Gore and Alex Gordon each stole one and which ultimately lead to their win. The Royals other strong suit has been the back end of their bullpen. Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Gregg Holland have each been close to perfection this postseason. Davis and Herrera have not given up a run, and Holland has only given up one. If the Royals starting pitchers can go 6 innings, and the offense can give them a lead, the game is in their dominant bullpen’s hand. The hot bat of Lorenzo Cain was a big boost to the Royals: he went 8-15 in the ALCS, scoring 5 runs and stealing a base, and earning the ALCS MVP award.
The Giants, contrary to the Royals, do not have any major strong suits. Besides the bats of Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence, there are no real offensive threats. The only reason they have gone 8-2 this postseason, is that they have had timely hitting, and a little bit of help from other teams. Costly errors by their opponents have helped the Giants out on offense. Also, they have one of the best pitchers in the MLB on their team; Madison Bumgarner, who has been dominant this postseason. He threw a shutout in the must-win Wild Card Game against the Pirates, then over his next three starts, he gave up only 5 runs over 22.1 innings pitched, and he earned himself the NLCS MVP award. Also like the Royals, the Giants bullpen has been really effective, led by Jeremy Affeldt, Yusmerio Petit and Santiag Casilla. All of them have yet to give up a run this postseason, and that just shows their pure dominance.
This series should come down to how well the pitching does. If each teams pitches well, then whichever team comes up with more clutch hits should be the ones taking the series and being crowned as World Champions. I predict the Kansas City Royals take it in 6 games.
