World Series Preview

It's that time of year again. It's the fall classic. For 30 other teams, this is a symbol of what they all want to achieve. For the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royal's however, it is reality. These 2 teams have worked hard since April to achieve their goal of getting to this point, and neither was expected to be here. But Baseball has shown us that this game simply cannot be predicted, and they have defied the odds and made it to this point. In this article I will give my thoughts on each team and predict how this series will play out based on that.

Few people though the Kansas City Royals would be in this position when the season started on March 31st. Even fewer believed it when they were a mediocre 50-50 through 100 games. But KC proceeded to go on a terror, and finished the season strong enough to earn a wildcard spot. They proceeded to erase a 7-3 deficit against the A's in the wildcard game to win 9-8 in 11 innings. They surprised everyone when they swept the Angles and the Orioles in the ALDS and ALCS to win their first Pennant since 1985.

The Giants got off to a hot start, as they were in first place throughout April and May. But they stumbled in the 2nd half of the season and finished a distant 2nd to the Dodgers in the NL West. They defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 in the NL Wildcard game, then proceeded to defeat the Nationals in 4 games and the Cardinals in 5, the last win being via way of a walk off 3 run home run by Travis Ishikawa to win their 3rd NL Pennant in the past 5 years. I will now discuss how the teams match up against each other.

Pitching
Both teams post strong starting pitching staffs. The Giants staff is anchored by Madison Bumgarner and Tim Hudson while the Royals staff is led by James Shields and Darren Duffy. Both teams have strong rotations but I give the Giants a slight edge based on the numbers, as they are 10th in the league in staff era while KC is 12th.

Edge: San Fran

Offense
Neither team is particularly strong offensively. They Royals, led by Alex Gordon, Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez, are in the top 10 in batting average but are only 14th in the league in runs scored as they do not walk very often. The Giants, led by Buster Poesy and Pablo Sandaval, are 12th in the league in runs scored. Based on the fact that runs win games, I will give the Giants the edge here as well.

Edge: San Fran

Bullpen
This will be a very important factor in this series. Both teams bullpens have posten ERA's well below 2 this postseason. I will give KC the edge, because Greg Holland and Wade Davis have been near un-hitable as of late.

Edge: KC

Managing
Easy one here. Bruce Bochy has 4 NL Pennants and 2 World Championships to his credit, while Ned Yost had never made the playoffs before this season.

Edge: San Fran

I predict a great series, but the Giants are so clutch in the postseason and I believe they are a better team overall, so I will pick the Giants to win their 3rd world title in the past 5 seasons.

Prediction: Giants in 6 games.