A Look into the 2014 Giants-Royals World Series
Madison Bumgarner is an ace. There is no way around it. The left-handed All-Star for the San Francisco Giants posted a 2.98 ERA with 219 strikeouts on his way to an eighteen win regular season in 2014. Come this postseason, he has been even more spectacular. In his first outing, he faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in a win or go home Wild Card and pitched a complete game one hit shutout. He followed up that performance by allowing only two runs against the Washington Nationals over seven innings, albeit in a losing effort. In the NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals, he toed the rubber for Game One and once again pitched over seven innings while surrendering zero runs to the defending National League champions. And in the clinching game of the series, he took the mound and pitched another gem: eight innings, five hits and three runs. Point proven. In a field that included two-time reigning Cy Young winner (and likely three-time after this season) Clayton Kershaw, former number one pick Stephen Strasburg, and the trio of David Price, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, Bumgarner has proved that he is the best pitcher of the playoffs.
So come Tuesday night, it came as a surprise to no one that it was Bumgarner who got the start for Bruce Bochy’s club against the Royals. He delivered again. In his third career World Series start, Bumgarner held the Royals to one run on five hits over seven strong innings. After getting into a jam in the third inning with runners on second and third with no outs, he was able to get out unscathed.
The offense held up their end of the game by posting five runs on the Royals’ number one starter, James Shields. Failing to live up to his nickname, “Big Game James” floundered in his second World Series. He got smashed by the Giants’ bats and gave up seven hits while only striking out one. In the first inning, he allowed three runs with a fourth being saved by a good relay to peg Giants catcher Buster Posey at the plate. Two of those runs came off the bat of outfielder Hunter Pence when he took a Shields middle-middle fastball yard.
As for the Royals, they failed to get a run across until the seventh inning when catcher Salvador Perez hit a solo shot. Danny Duffy came in as a reliever for Shields in the fourth and gave up two runs over the next three innings. After him, Tim Collins and Jason Frasor combined for three shutout innings.
The remaining games should be a lot closer than Game One on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, it was Jake Peavy against Yordano Ventura. Peavy, after struggling in his previous postseasons including with the Red Sox last year, has posted a 1.86 ERA so far in this year’s playoffs. Rookie Ventura looked good in his first start against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, but then struggled against the Baltimore Orioles in the ALCS.
Looking forward to Game Three, the series heads to San Francisco where Jeremy Guthrie (1.80 ERA) and Jason Vargas (2.38) will take the hill for the Royals with Tim Hudson (3.29) and Ryan Vogelsong (5.19) opposing them. There is always the chance Shields or Bumgarner will come back on short rest to pitch the fourth game if either manager decides that is what is best for his team. Expect low scoring games as neither offense has truly proven to be a machine this postseason. Both sport identical .247 batting averages with very similar on-base percentages, .318 for Kansas City and .320 for San Francisco. If the Royals are able to get a lead in seventh inning or later, expect the Giants offense to be even further stifled by the dynamic backend of the Kansas City bullpen led by setup men Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis and closer Greg Holland.
No matter what, the 2014 World Series will be a great one. The Giants look to keep their streak of winning in even years in tact after having won in 2010 and 2012. While the Royals hope to make make their first appearance in the World Series since 1985 a successful one.