What I know about the Giants:

They're a better team than the St. Louis Cardinals and a much more difficult matchup, in my opinion, for the Royals.

The lineup is a lot better than St. Louis, though - to be honest - it probably isn't quite as scary a lineup as the Orioles' was coming off their brutalizing of the Tigers. And it's probably not better on paper than the Angels.

I do think San Fran's offense is full of tough guys who grind at-bats, though. Buster Posey has been an amazingly effective postseason player throughout his career. Sandoval and Pence are also dangerous. Sandoval will be a key factor for the Royals... because he's a switch hitter who is more dangerous from the left side of the plate, it's a much more balanced lineup than we saw with Baltimore. Sandoval also has major postseason history.

One thing that could help KC is that the Giants don't have the extreme focus the O's had on controlling the running game. Their pitchers are a little slower to the plate, and they don't have anyone who throws as well as Caleb Joseph. So we could see that re-emerge as a factor.

I'd give the Royals the edge in defense, bullpen and call starting pitching basically a wash. Bumgarner is the best starter in the series, but I think the Royals have the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th best starters in the series (though one of those guys is sitting in the bullpen and didn't pitch in the ALCS).

I think it's going to be a close-fought, tooth and nail series... again. But I have faith the Royals pull it out.

Seeing as we've basically just run through the 3 best teams in the American League with a chainsaw, and in quick succession, I'm not overly worried about what the NL has to offer.

Look at all the butt-hurt Giants fans comments from this article. Giants in 4 or 5....LMAO

http://m.espn.go.com/mlb/story?story...op&ex_cid=null

This team seems to defy every sort of guess as to what "should" happen, so I've no clue what to expect.

I believe we will see the true value of Ned Yost during the road games.

The Giants have a $148 million payroll this year, bigger than the Angels ($127 million), Orioles ($101 million) or A's ($75 million). The Royals payroll is $91 million.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/salaries...ancisco-giants

P.S. The Tigers is $161 million, and the Cardinals is $107.5 million.

That's exactly the type of attitude I hope the Royals do not have.

The Giants are my wife's favorite team and they are my favorite National League team, but the Royals are my live-and-die-for team. We watch both team regularly. (I have MLB.tv.)

As for the Giants, very likable players; excellent manager; MVP-caliber catcher; some shakiness in the bullpen; starters expect themselves to do well; rotation led by a great soft-tossing lefty ace. Athletic outfielders, but not as good as the Royals on defense. They have a surprisingly agile third baseman who is a fan favorite because of his incredible ability to hit balls anywhere in the vicinity of the home plate area.

The Royals swept them in August in KC, including a complete-game shutout by James Shields. We also beat their ace that series.

If I weren't a KC sports fan who expected to be disappointed, I would give the Royals the edge in this series.

Earlier this season, the Giants were playing the best baseball in the Majors. But that was months ago. The Royals are playing the best right now.

Still, in my core I am a KC sports fan. I wasn't all that surprised when we blew that 28-point lead to the Colts in the playoffs.

I get as much enjoyment from watching Pablo Sandoval at the plate as I did from watching Terrell Davis run and from watching Tony Boselli block. Just incredible athletes that do unbelievable stuff that is fun to see.

They said the same thing about the Royals vs Orioles.

Here's the Team WAR (wins above replacement) breakdown from FanGraphs:

http://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Team

Position KC SF edge (comment)
C 4.4 6.3 SF +1.9 (Posey is awesome)
1B 2.6 3.6 SF +1.2 (But, Hosmer might be coming into his own)
2B 2.2 1.9 KC +0.3
SS 2.2 2.1 KC +0.1
3B 3.4 3.6 SF +0.2 (But both Sandoval and Moustakas could carry teams)
LF 4.4 0.9 KC +3.5 (Gordon is awesome)
CF 3.5 2.2 KC +1.3 (Lo Cain is awesome)
RF 2.4 3.1 SF +1.3 (Hunter Pence is awesome)
DH 1.6 0.8 KC +0.8
SP 10.3 9.2 KC +1.1 (But SF Ace is 5.0 vs. KC Ace's 4.6)
RP 5.0 0.9 KC +4.1 (KC's bullpen is historic in its awesomeness)

Overall, KC is 42.0 and SF is 34.5

Of course, this is for the full season and WAR doesn't capture everything. Still, Royals fans should be hopeful that we will hang tough against the Giants' classy organization.

What is a hoss?

The David Ross thing is a joke, people. Probably a lame one.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hoss
Buster Posey is a hoss. Great, great player.

A man's man then, I will have to inject the word 'hoss' in a conversation sometime soon.