Bruce Bochy and the rest of the San Francisco Giants successfully dispatched the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Series Thursday to send themselves to an unlikely showdown with the Kansas City Royals, another team that had to pass through the eye of the needle just to get in this edition of the Fall Classic. Will the Giants stop the streaking Royals on their tracks? Or will the Royals win their first game back in the World Series in 29 years?
It’s going to be one heck of a World Series. Read on for a complete preview of Game 1 of this series below. Meanwhile, you can also check out our breakdown of the key games and dates of the upcoming NBA season here.
[sc:MLBArticles ]San Francisco Giants vs. Kansas City Royals Betting Preview
Series Schedule & Results
Game 1 – Tuesday, October 21, San Francisco Giants vs. Kansas City Royals – view all MLB lines
Game 2 – Wednesday, October 22, San Francisco Giants vs. Kansas City Royals
Game 3 – Friday, October 24, Kansas City Royals vs. San Francisco Giants
Game 4 – Saturday, October 25, Kansas City Royals vs. San Francisco Giants
Game 5* – Sunday, October 26, San Francisco Giants vs. San Francisco Giants
Game 6* – Tuesday, October 28, San Francisco Giants vs. Kansas City Royals
Game 7* – Wednesday, October 29, San Francisco Giants vs. Kansas City Royals
*If necessary
Betting on the San Francisco Giants
[sc:MLB240banner ]With four days of rest, Madison Bumgarner gets the nod of Bruce Bochy to start in Game 1 of the World Series. In four starts this postseason, Bumgarner has a 2-1 record, a 1.42 ERA, and a 0.76 WHIP and has struck out 28 batters. The Giants are 8-2 in the lefty’s last 10 starts overall.
Bumgarner, though, is coming off a mediocre outing by his own very high standards in this postseason, giving up three earned runs in eight innings of duty in the Giants’ series-clinching 6-3 win over St. Louis in Game 5 of the NLCS. Despite that, Bumgarner was still able to win the NLCS MVP award, largely because of his dominant performance in Game 1 of that series, wherein he tossed seven-plus scoreless innings before giving the ball to the Giants bullpen that has been merciless to opposing batters.
Led by Yusmeiro Petit, the Giants’ relievers provide lethal pitching in the late innings. Petit has been the star of the Giants’ bullpen lately, as he has yet to give up a run in nine total innings of relief thus far in this postseason. Like Petit, closer Santiago Casilla has also has not surrendered a run this month, allowing just two hits in 6.2 innings logged on the mound.
On offense, Pablo Sandoval will enter the World Series as the best hitter in the Giants’ lineup with at least 10 at-bats this postseason. Panda is hitting .326 on 14-for-43 since the NL Wild Card Game, and has a great 8-for-20 (.400) clip during the LCS.
The Giants’ newest postseason hero, Travis Ishikawa, on the other hand, has also had a hot bat. He drove in a team-leading seven runs in the LCS on 5-for-13 (.385) hitting, which includes two doubles and a homer.
Betting on the Kansas City Royals
Well rested and unbeaten since the start of the postseason, the Royals are looking to make a splash in the franchise’s first trip to the grand stage of baseball since 1985. And they will have to do that with ace James Shields on the mound, a paralyzing bullpen on standby, and an offense that has been humming smoothly throughout the playoffs.
Shields has just one win in three starts this postseason to go along with an unspectacular 5.63 ERA, which pales in comparison to that of Bumgarner’s. However, he had his way against the Giants in his lone career start against San Francisco last August 9th. In that game, Shields threw a complete game shutout, allowing just four hits while fanning five batters in the Royals, 5-0 win. Furthermore, the current Giants’ roster has only hit a collective .208 BA against Shields. The Royals are 4-0 in James Shields’ last four starts.
No discussion of the Royals pitching, however, would be complete without the mention of their fearsome bullpen led by the shutdown trio of Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera, and Greg Holland. All three of them had ERAs below 1.50 during the regular season. Davis had a 1.00 ERA, while Herrera and Holland finished the season with 1.41 and 1.44, respectively. Together, the three relievers have an ERA of 1.04 with two wins to boot, both coming from Davis, in this postseason.
Kansas City’s offense, meanwhile, has been the surprise for the team this October. The pair of Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer have supplied power at the plate for the Royals, who finished last in the majors in homers with just 95. They were the only team who failed to knock in over 100 home runs. Moustakas and Hosmer have combined for six of Kansas City’s eight homers this postseason. Other players contributing on offense for the Royals since entering the postseason are Lorenzo Cain (.353 BA), Alcides Escobar (.278), and Norichika Aoki (.259 ).
Writer’s Prediction
The Royals take Game 1 of the series, 4-3. Create a betting account now, and take your pick for each game of the 2014 World Series.
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