2014 World Series Preview

The time has finally arrived. A 162 regular season games are in the books, as are the wild card games, the divisional round and the league championship series. With all that being said and done, there are two teams left standing: the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals. For the first time since 2002, we will have two wild card teams facing off in the fall classic. In the 02 World Series, the Anaheim Angels pulled out a seven game series victory over the San Francisco Giants. This also marks the first time ever that we have two wild card teams playing each other in the fall classic that had to play in the wild card game, since the rule was instituted in 2012. Consequently, the World Series winning team is guaranteed to set the record for most postseason victories in a single postseason with 12.

Enough of all the fluff and filler. Lets get into it to see what who we have playing for the Commissioner's Trophy.

From the American League, its the wild card winning Kansas City Royals, while the National League is being represented by the wild card winning San Francisco Giants. This marks the 4th time that the American League has had a wild card team make the fall classic, with the team going 2-1 in the classic. The National League has seen a wild card team reach the World Series seven times prior to this, compiling a record of 3-4 in the fall classic.

The Royals are making their third World Series appearance in franchise history. Their last appearance was in 1985, wherein they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games, and their other appearance was in 1980, wherein they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. They enter the 2014 World series after beating the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wild Card game, sweeping the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS , and sweeping the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS.

The Giants are making their third World Series appearance in five years, having won in 2010 and 2012, their 20th appearance overall, and their 6th appearance since moving to San Francisco from New York in 1958. They defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Wild Card game, defeated the Washington Nationals in the NLDS 3 games to 1, and the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS 4 games to 1.

Here's the date and times for every game in the World Series:
1 October 21 San Francisco Giants @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM
2 October 22 San Francisco Giants @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM
3 October 24 Kansas City Royals @ San Francisco Giants AT&T Park 8:07 PM
4 October 25 Kansas City Royals @ San Francisco Giants AT&T Park 8:07 PM
5 October 26† Kansas City Royals @ San Francisco Giants AT&T Park 8:07 PM
6 October 28† San Francisco Giants @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM
7 October 29† San Francisco Giants @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM

All games will be broadcast on Fox and ESPN Radio.

So now we know who's playing when and where as well as how they got to where we stand now. Here's how these teams stack up.

Three things really stand out to me in this series: Pitching, hitting and bench/defense. In the case of pitching the edge, in starting pitching at least, has to go to the Giants. As a team, the ERA of the Giants from the starters is the lower of the two. Kansas City's starters have an ERA of 3.80, while the San Francisco starters ERA is 2.40, so there is a significant difference in how good the starters have been. Madison Bumgarner has been lights out, holding down a 1.42 ERA in 31.2 innings pitched. He has been flat out filthy. So too has Jake Pevy, who has an ERA of 1.86 in his two playoff starts. Kansas City hasn't looked as good, as James Shields and Yoradno Ventura have both been hit pretty hard during the post season, Shields especially.

As far as the bullpen is concerned, it's too close to call to be honest. San Francisco has a 1.78 ERA from their pen, compared to the 1.80 ERA from the Royals pen. So you can see it's too close to call who has the better pen. So when it comes to the pen's I would say its even.

When it comes to the offense, the edge might have to go to the Royals. Kansas City has scored one more run than the Giants (42 to 41) and did it in two less games as the Royals have played eight games while the Giants have played ten. Kansas City also has eight home runs in the playoffs, compared to just five by the Giants. Eric Hosmer, Lorenso Cain and Alcides Escobar have each had double digits in hits in the playoffs for KC, while the Giants have been lead by Buster Posey, Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt. Sure the Giants have more players who have had double digits in hits in the playoffs, but the Royals have been able to make those hits count a lot more. Kansas City has been able to get to where they are, from an offensive perspective, thanks to playing small ball. They can steal bases and get runs home via the sacrifice fly. The Giants haven't really been able to do that in this post season.

Sure the Giants have more hits than the Royals in the playoffs, but the Royals have the higher batting average (KC .259, SF .244) and a higher on-base percentage (KC .331, SF .313). Those two numbers are going to be a factor in this series.

Defense is going to be another key in this series and it just seems that Kansas City is having the better defensive playoffs than the Giants are. In fact, some outstanding plays in both the Divisional Round and the League Championship series are a big big part of why the Royals are here. Sure the Giants too have had some big defensive plays, but by comparison, the Royals have made the clutch defensive play at the key moment, which at times it looked like the Giants didn't have. Kansas City has played almost mistake free baseball to this point, which is going to be a big help. See the Giants haven't played perfect baseball, they have made some mistakes which cost them two games in this years playoffs. At the same time, the Giants also got the benefit of some of those same breaks as well.

This is going to be a highly entertaining series to watch, that I have no doubt. These teams are evenly matched, there's no denying any of that. Kansas City has played lights out and come up with a big moment when nobody thought it was possible. If the Giants absolutely will need to jump on the Royals early in games. Otherwise, Kansas City’s sensational bullpen will swing the tide in its favor, helping the Royals squeak out late-inning victories.

It's going to be close but I'm taking the Royals to win the title in six games!