Why I think the Royals win the 2015 WS!

[Why Not?]

Woohoo. We're baaaaaack! YEAH Baby!

Now that the ALCS is over, it is time to turn to the WS. Well, you guys can go out and party but if I drive around Phoenix hooting and hollering, I'm going to get some weird looks, plus I have little kids at home so I am in for the night and have been thinking for a few days about this match up. Let me know what you think. Quick note: when I do comparisons, I will not use many stats. Someone much smarter than me, like alnorth or someone will have to do that.

The obvious strength of the Mets is their starting pitching. DeGrom, Harvey, and Syndergaard are as advertised. Matz is not far behind. These guys are tough as hell to face. But, there are a few things that work in our advantage. We all know by now that the Royals lead MLB is BA against the fastball. Although the Mets guys have good secondary pitches, your still throwing majority fastballs. The Royals have proven they are capable of beating any body. Again, much respect to the Mets, but, let's look at the lineups they beat

The Dodgers were by far the weakest lineup in the postseason, and I include the corpses the Yankees threw out there in that mix. It was Adrian Gonzalez and a bunch of JAG's. The Dodgers took that series to 5 games because of two men, neither who hit 1-8 in their order. The Cubs were the Blue Jays light. A home run dependent team(even Joe Madden on PTI right before game 1 of the NLCS, stated he was concerned about that)who struck out tons. The Royals are not homer dependent and as we all know, strike out very little. The Mets staff has not seen a lineup as deep and as talented as what we're gonna give 'em. The Mets offense has been an impossible to keep up hot Daniel Murphy and not tons else. I'll take any bet on Murphy under .5 HR hit at Kauffman in the WS.

I'm going to try and be as concise as possible here but I want to compare the Royals vs not only the Mets lineup, but show you how we have faced and bested better already in most positions. I will offer a little "eye test"analysis on the Royals and Mets, but only list the top couple of opponents faced.


1B- Royals: Eric Hosmer Mets: Lucas Dude

Royals by a landslide. If Duda runs into one, he'll crush it 500 feet. The problem is, he doesn't do that very much lately. Sure, he did in game 4 against sacrificial lamb Jason Hammell. Sorry, not impressed. Hosmer has become one of the most clutch players I can remember in recent postseason history, and is just a better player overall. Every GM in the league is taking Hosmer over Duda and you are to.

Royals opponents: 1. Personally, I'm taking Chris Collabello over 2. Duda but you could argue that so I guess that's a push. 3. Chris Carter was not really a threat

2B- Royals: Ben Zobrist Mets: Daniel Murphy

Push. If we're judging this solely on this postseason(where Zobrist has been really good, BTW)you take Murphy all day. Couple of things though, Murphy is bound to cool off at some point and on an everyday basis Zobrist is a better player. Don't believe me? Look up both players OPS the past few years. Murphy is one of the top second baseman...but guess who is above him? Yep, Zobrist. Since I don't want to totally be a homer I will call this a push.

Royals Opponents: 1. Again, if you want to take Murphy based on one stretch of games, knock yourself out. Me and everybody else is taking 1. Altuve over 2. Murphy

SS. Royals: Alcides MVPscobar Mets: Wilmer Flores.

Royals. Flores has a bit of pop and is one of the stories of the year. He seems like a really good kid. He is also a back up SS, that is playing thanks to Chase Utley.

Royals Opponents: 1. Correa 2. Tulowitzki 3. Flores

3B Royals: Mike Moustakas Mets: David Wright

Mets, but not by a lot. Along with CF, this is the toughest position battle for me. Career wise, it's Wright by a lot. At this stage of the game, Wright is not a power threat anymore but will still battle you. Moose can hit the ball out, but is still prone to slumps. I think Moose is a bit better on defense, but Wright is not a liability. I think your are probably picking Wright. Maybe

Royals Opponents: 1. Well, the AL MVP was just kept in check by our pitching so we're not really to worried about 2. David Wright. 3. Luis Valbuena. HR in game 5 of the ALDS, so he'll always have that

LF- Royals: Alex Gordon Mets: Some wayward combo of Michael Conforto or Michael Cuddyer. Conforto mostly, I would guess.

This is not even debatable on any level. Mr. Met would give this to the Royals in a landslide and not even blink. Neither Met LF can hit at all right now, Cuddyer can't hit period. I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face if we brought defense into it.

Royals Opponents 1. Rasmus 2. I'm taking Revere over either of the Mets guys, but you could take the potential of Conforto here.

CF- Royals: Lo Cain Mets: Yoenis Cespedes

Royals. Cespedes can punish a mistake and is the Mets MVP. Lorenzo Cain is the better overall player, and would be a legit AL MVP candidate of the world was less in love with power numbers.

Royals opponents: 1. Cespedes 2. Gomez 3. Pillar

RF- Royals: Alex Rios Mets: Curtis Granderson

Mets. Rios has been great this post season, but Granderson offers some great pop from the lead off position. Grandersons numbers were actually weaker than I thought but he's still a much better player than Rios.

Royals opponents: 1. I was terrified each time Joey Bautista walked to the plate in the ALCS. I will feel no such fear at 2. Granderson who is not as far above 3. Springer as you might think

C- Royals: Salvy Mets:Travis D'naurd or something close to that?

Royals. That french dude for the Mets is pretty decent and can hit it out but Salvy is at worst the 2nd or 3rd best all around catcher in the game.

Royals opponents: 1. Martin(even with his 1 for the ALCS) 2. D'nau-the Mets guy 3. Whatever warm body the Astros put back there

DH- Royals: Kendrys Morales Mets: Some pathetic attempt at one last shot at a meaningful at bat in the human form of Cuddyer, Kelly Johnson, or 93 year old Juan Uribe

Royals by such a wide margin, I can't even fathom.

Royals opponents: 1. Encarnacion 2. The though of Gattis 3. Whatever member of the Walking Dead the Mets send up

Starting Rotation: I'm not going to name the pitchers for either team, you know em or you will in a few days.

Advantage Mets. There is no debating this. Just remember, the neutralizer in getting to great starting pitching is not so much great hitting, but getting a great performance by your starter. Take Bumgarner's starts last year in the WS. Game 1: Bumgarner throws 7 innings of 1 run ball. Great start. To bad he never had anything to worry about since BGJ Shields didn't even last 5 and gave up 5. Game 2 Bumgarner CGSO. BGJ, not horrid, 6ip 2er. But those runs came in the 2nd and 4th inning. Not once could BGJ come close to hanging with Bumgarner. If one of the Mets guys is pitching a gem, and say a Johnny Cueto(before you laugh, he is pitching against the NL, a league he has dominated for years)or a Ventura or Volquez matches them and it gets to the bullpen, well then.....


Huge advantage to the Royals. Familia is a good closer. If there was 1 closer job up for grabs and it was between Familia and Wade Davis, Familia would be working at Denny's. The rest of the Mets bullpen is garbage. Their middle guys are Bartolo the Hut and Jonathan Niese. Yes, please. Their back end crew is lead by Tyler Clippard, who is meh and Addison Reed who, as someone who watched him pitch many times in pressure situations, with the Dbacks, all I can say is I will pray Terry Collins uses him and you should to. Did the post good numbers against the pop gun Dodgers and the desperate, Homer happy Cubbies? Sure. I'll take our BP any day.

Bottom Line is the Mets pitching is to good to not steal a couple in this series but I'm going Royals in 6! See you guys at the parade!


Edit: thanks to The Bad Guy for correcting the positions of NY CF and RF. Adjustments made

[lewdog]

Very nice read Why Not.

They clearly have better starting pitching which is very important. But outside of Familia their bullpen is hittable and we seems to score late in games. And if we can get a lead and get to our pen, I feel great about winning without having to face a home run team like the Astros or Jays. I think we matchup very well and better in most every category outside of starting pitching.

[Why Not?]

Originally Posted by lewdog

Very nice read Why Not.

They clearly have better starting pitching which is very important. But outside of Familia their bullpen is hittable and we seems to score late in games. And if we can get a lead and get to our pen, I feel great about winning without having to face a home run team like the Astros or Jays. I think we matchup very well and better in most every category outside of starting pitching.

Thanks. I totally agree, with not having to face home run hitters. I was nervous as hell whenever Altuve-Rasmus and Donaldson-Encarnacion. I will not feel that about any Mets hitter.