2015 World Series Preview
The Kansas City Royals have returned to the World Series, taking on a New York Mets team full of youth and pitching and one of the hottest postseason performers of all time. Believe it or not they are the favourites. Is anyone going to wise up to this Royals team or will they forever be discounted.
2015 World Series Lines
Kansas City Royals vs. New York Mets
World Series Odds: Mets -119, Royals -101
World Series Game 1 Odds: Mets -109, Royals -101
World Series Game 1 Total: 7
Game 1 Trends & StatsWorld Series Schedule
- October 28 @ Kansas City
- October 29 @ Kansas City
- October 31 @ New York
- November 1 @ New York
- November 2 @ New York (if necessary)
- November 4 @ Kansas City (if necessary)
- November 5 @ Kansas City (if necessary)
Lineups
If you need a home run it is hard to argue against Yoenes Cespedes, or even Daniel Murphy, but if you are looking for consistency the Royals have it.
They almost never strike out and proved in the playoffs, and all season long, that they can move runners along and bring them in.
They have speed to burn and we haven’t even seen it turned lose yet. It is going to be important for the Mets hurlers to keep them off the base paths.
Advantage: Royals
Bench
The Royals have some burners they can bring in when necessary and can upgrade their defense in a couple of spots but no hitter off their bench impresses me. The Mets bench is not all that spectacular either but I think that is where we are going to see Michael Cuddyer most of the time.
He has just 1 hits in the playoffs this season but is a career .317 hitter in the postseason. My hunch is he is going to be up in a big spot at some point and might produce.
Advantage: Pretty even but I will give this to the Mets.
Rotation
This is no contest. The Mets are blessed with fire ballers who will look to show that it is possible to strike out these Royals when it matters. They have set things up for Matt Harvey to take the ball in G1 and he might be their fourth best starter – crazy, right?
It might seem weird but it might actually be advantage for this group in the AL park because they won’t tempted to pull anyone early for offense. Kansas City has adequate starting pitching but lacks an ace. They really need Johnny Cueto who has solid career numbers against New York to step up.
Advantage – Mets
Bullpen
Just like the Mets have a huge advantage in the rotation the Royals have a huge advantage in the bullpen. Wade Davis was money to close out the Jays and Kelvin Herrera is unhittable most of the time. The rest of the arms can dominate too as we have seen all season long.
Jeurys Familia has been great for the Mets this postseason but his track record is limited. Other than him there is not much to fear.
Advantage – Royals
Manager
I am not sure how much but I do think managing makes a difference in the playoffs.
Ned Yost was there a year ago and even though I am not trying to put the return to this stage on him I think part of the reason the Royals beat the Blue Jays is that they know who they are and trust. Even down an important arm in the bullpen they have mastery of that part of their game and that is all the manager.
He loves his role definition but is willing to go beyond those when the situation calls for it and his guys usually perform.
Advantage – Royals
2015 World Series Prediction
This is an interesting series where the strengths of each team are clearly defined. The Mets have great starting pitching, the kind that can dominate any lineup, but is that enough?
The Royals keep proving that a dynamite bullpen is just about as dominating as anything as it forces teams to exhaust every possible opportunity, even early in the game.
They are the new kind of champion that seems to be inevitable and they the series. Just barely.
Royals in Seven.
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