Loose Talk: The Editors’ Take
Tuesday kicked off the 2015 World Series. This year’s participants: the Kansas Royals and the New York Mets. Both teams are somewhat of a surprise. It may seem odd to peg the defending AL champs as a surprising contestant, but their Vegas odds of winning were pegged at 1-20 on April 1, behind division foe Detroit Tigers who were pegged as 2-15 co-favorites. After making it to the World Series as a wild card team last season, they were seen more as an anomaly than a year-in-and-year-out contender. But this year has disproved that notion. They got off to the hottest start of any team with a 7-0 record through their first week of games and they never looked back, clinching the number one seed in the AL. They snuck past the Houston Astros in five games after a sterling performance by Johnny Cueto and proceeded to eliminate the baseball-mashing Toronto Blue Jays in six.
On the other hand, there’s the Mets, a team no one, even their own fans, thought would contend this year. They were thought to be at least a few years away from contending. Their young pitching was strong, but they lacked offensively. Little was done to quiet their offensive critics after David Wright went down with a back injury early in the season. Reports came out later that the injury could be career threatening, sending the Mets faithful into a frantic frenzy. Then after months of a toiling offense came the trade deadline. It was reported that the Mets had traded Wilmer Flores amongst other players to the Milwaukee Brewers for Carlos Gomez, a power hitting, athletic spark plug that can hit leadoff. In other words, exactly what they needed for their anemic offense. Tejada was pulled from that night’s game. Tears cascaded down his face and Mets fans gave him a standing ovation, knowing full well what it meant when he was taken off of the field. Later that night, it was announced that the trade had fallen through due to health concerns about Gomez. Once again, it was another example of buffoonery from the Mets front office. The media ridiculed the Mets. Fans of other franchises laughed in the faces of Mets supporters. The next day, the Mets front office silenced them by trading for slugging and rocket-armed outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. He shot the Mets offense from cellar-dwelling to number one in the NL. Their pitching kept going, and, sure enough, the Mets made it the postseason after the Washington Nationals disappointed for the second straight year and couldn’t keep up with the Mets in the NL East. They eked by the high-spending Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round before laying waste to the Chicago Cubs (poor Cubs) in a four-game sweep.
And now these two squads face each other in baseball’s ultimate test: the World Series. It’s going to be a tough one to predict. The Royals and Mets come in boasting the two best offenses in the postseason with .271/.328/.777 and .235/.300/.433 slash lines respectively while also ranked first and second respectively in the majors in runs scored per game. With both batting orders strong, the winner of the series will likely be decided with pitching and defense. The Mets rank first with a 2.81 ERA. Their starters have a 2.77 ERA. The bullpen has a 3.65 ERA but remains largely untested outside of Jeurys Familia and Addison Reed. Who knows what could happen if a Mets starter gets in trouble early and Mets manager Terry Collins is forced to go to a bullpen arm early in a game.
On the other side of the diamond, the Royals pitching staff sports a 4.41 ERA. Most of that is inflated by a 5.72 ERA by Yordano Ventura, Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez, the Royals’ trio of starters. The backend of their bullpen (Luke Hochevar, Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis) have combined to allow 17 batters reach base and only one to cross home plate over a span of 20 innings. If his starters falter early, do not put it past Royals manager Ned Yost to go to his shutdown bullpen early to get through a game. On the other hand, if the Royals starters put up six strong innings, Yost can rely on his bullpen to shut down the Mets offense the rest of the way.
So how will this World Series shake out? Does Daniel Murphy continue to power the Mets offense as their electric, young starters freeze the Royals’ bats? Do the Royals starters finally put themselves together before turning the game over to the bullpen so they can slam the door on the Mets?
I think the Royals’ World Series experience from last year will help them win over the Mets. Their batting will provide just enough as the Mets starters slow down as more innings pile on to their fatiguing arms. Meanwhile, the Kansas City starters will put up some solid starts and their bullpen will continue to be lights out. Royals in 6.