2015 World Series Preview

October has turned into a month of Blue (at least at the moment). For the two teams playing in the fall classic, it has been a long 30 years in the making. Kansas City hasn't won a title since 1985, while New York hasn't seen a championship since 1986. One title drought is bound in a little over a week. Kansas City looks to finish off some unfinished business (having made it to the fall classic a season ago), while the Mets are looking to make an impact in their first World Series in fifteen years. In a little over a week, somebody will be holding the Commissioner's Trophy high above their heads, having been crowned champions of all the baseball world.

This years fall classic has the National League Champions the New York Mets taking on the American League Champions the Kansas City Royals. New York comes in finishing the year with a 90-72 record, winning the NL East. The National League East Title was the sixth division title in team history. To get to the Series, the Mets knocked off the Dodgers in the NLDS in four, then swept the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS. This marks the fifth appearance in the World Series for the Mets, and their first since 2000. They have split their four previous appearances, winning in 1969 (Baltimore) and 1986 (Boston) while losing in 1973 (Oakland) and 2000 (Yankees). With the win in the NLCS, the Mets ensured that they have the most World Series appearances by an expansion franchise with five, and that this Series would be the first between two expansion franchises. In addition, the Mets have made World Series appearances in all but one of their six decades of existence (winning in 1969 and 1986, losing in 1973 and 2000, and not appearing in any that were played during the 1990s).

As for the Royasls, they are making their second consecutive appearance in the World Series, and fourth overall. They won the World Series in 1985 (St. Louis), and lost their two other appearances, in 1980 (Philadelphia) and 2014 (San Francisco). The Royals qualified for the postseason by winning the American League Central, their seventh division title and their first outside of the American League West. They finished the season with a 95-67 record/ They faced the Houston Astros in the ALDS, following that up by beating the Blue Jays in six in the ALCS. With the win in the ALCS, Kansas City became the first team since the Texas Rangers in 2010 and 2011 to play in consecutive World Series. This will be the first meeting between the two teams in the playoffs.

Here's the date and times of every game in this series:
October 27 New York Mets @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM ET
October 28 New York Mets @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM ET
October 30 Kansas City Royals @ New York Mets Citi Field 8:07 PM ET
October 31 Kansas City Royals @ New York Mets Citi Field 8:07 PM ET
November 1† Kansas City Royals @ New York Mets Citi Field 8:07 PM ET
November 3† New York Mets @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM ET
November 4† New York Mets @ Kansas City Royals Kauffman Stadium 8:07 PM ET

All games will be televised on Fox.

Now lets get down to it. Here's how the series is going to break down. Its no secret how good the Mets starting pitching is. When you have a starting rotation that consists of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz, all of whom have an ERA under 3.00, then you know you have a good starting staff. Also the back end of the bullpen has been great for the Mets right now. If the starts can go deep into the game (pitching seven innings at least), then get the ball to Tyler Clippard and Jeurys Familia, then its all but over. Clippard and especially Familia have been lights out. Familia hasn't allowed a run in the playoffs so far. In fact, Familia has allowed only two hits in the eight games he has pitched in this month, so yeah I'd say that's domination. If your the Royals, facing this guy when your trailing means one thing, lights out. What has me worried is the middle of the pen. Lets say, for the sake of argument, that one of the starters faulter. I'm not that comfortable with the middle of the pen. It hasn't had to work very hard this playoffs, so its possibly going to be tested. Still I can see its holding its own.

On the other side of the coin, KC's starting rotation of Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto, Yordano Ventura and Chris Young have been good, but not great. Young is the only KC starter who has an ERA under 4 in the playoffs. Cueto has been OK but he can't pitch on the road. So KC is a little lucky that Cueto isn't pitching in Queens in the Series, because if he was, the Mets fans would let him hear it worse than he did in Toronto in the ALCS. One thing Ned Yoast has to take into account are these numbers. Through 11 postseason games, Kansas City's starters have managed just a 5.56 ERA across 55 innings. That's not good and needs to get better ASAP. There is one thing the Royals have going for them, their ace in the hole weapon out of the bullpen as well, that being Wade Davis. His numbers have been as good as that of Familia. He's allowed three hits total in the entire playoffs and not allowed a run. So if, somehow, the Royals can get a lead late, much like the Mets, the lights go out and the game is over.

The difference here is going to be offense. Yes, the Mets have been hitting the cover off the ball in the power department this playoffs. They have 14 homeruns as a team (seven coming off the bat of Daniel Murphy). Murphy is the only Mets hitter to drive in double digit runs in the postseason, followed by Granderson and Cespedes. In fact, Granderson and Murphy are the only two Mets batters to collect more than ten hits in the entire playoffs. The fact that Murphy has been hitting the cover off the ball has been fantastic. Here's the difference between what the Mets have faced and what they are going to face. Kansas City is a better hitting team. KC has a .271 team batting average (compared to the.235 average for the Mets) KC doesn't strike out much, as they have only struck out 71 times in the entire playoffs (meanwhile the Mets have 94 strikeouts, highest in the playoffs).  Kansas City has six hitters who have reached double digits in hits in the playoffs, granted they have played more post season games than the Mets. Still the fact that their lineup has more balance than New York's should be a telling story in and of itself.

As much as I love the Mets, I think this may be the time when they finally hit the wall. Playing in a hitters park like KC benifits the Royals more than the Mets. Don't get me wrong, this Mets team has been full of surprises this season. Case in point they are playing in the World Series starting tonight! At the same time, every once in a while the magic is going to run out. This series is going to go the distance I have no doubt about that. I just don't know if the Mets have enough to pull this off.

Pick: Kansas City Royals in Seven!