The Oakland Athletics were three outs away from sending the Kansas City Royals home. Now the Royals are going into the World Series against the San Francisco Giants riding an eight game win streak. The Royals took down the Athletics, Angels and Orioles while the Giants took down the Pirates, Nationals and Cardinals. Destiny vs dynasty who takes the World Series? You can say the Giants are a dynasty as they have reached the World Series three of the past five years now winning two of the four before this one. The Royals haven’t made the postseason since 1985 so is it their time? It sure seems that way. Going undefeated in the first eight games leading up to the World Series is something that has never been done. Will they win four more consecutively? It will be a tough task but I don’t put it past them.
The Royals are going up against a tough Madison Bumgarner for game one. It has been fun watching the Royals this postseason. Speed, defense, and the bullpen are what is helping the Royals make this incredible run. They seem to get just enough hitting to win. It seems like every time they need a clutch hit, the deliver. The bullpen has pitched 32 percent of the innings pitched by the Royals this postseason. If you are losing after the 6th inning, it will be pretty much game over with Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland to close it out. Will the Giants be able to solve these three if they are losing? Not likely, but baseball is a crazy game so who knows. So who actually knew who Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer or Mike Moustakas were before this postseason? It’s the big stage and these Royals are stepping up offensively. This is a team of destiny.
The Giants have quietly returned to the World Series for the third time in five years. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so quiet after the walk off three run bomb by Travis Ishikawa. The Royals are making so many headlines that no one is paying attention to the Giants. They definitely have the best pitcher in this series in Madison Bumgarner. Will he continue his dominance or can the Royals figure him out? The Giants have to keep base runners off the bases in order for them to be successful. You see how the speed of the Royals has been taking over games. Had it not been for their speed against the Athletics, they would not be here today. Seven stolen bases in a game is unheard of. Taking the lead before the 7th inning will be vital. You do not want to face the back end of the Royals bullpen. The offense is led by Buster Posey, Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval. If these three do not get it going, it will be a long series for them.
Destiny or dynasty?
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Alan Liang is a senior Drexel Sport Management major with minors in Marketing, Business Administration, and Communication from West Windsor, NJ. Alan scores baseball games for Baseball Info Solutions and was on co-op with the Philadelphia 76ers in the camps department. Follow Alan on Twitter @AlanLiang29.
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