The San Francisco Giants, defeating the Kansas City Royals, have won their third World Series championship in five seasons. Madison Kyle Bumgarner was the story. Bumgarner, almost singlehandedly, helped to clinch the San Francisco victory in Game 1, Game 5, and Game 7, pitching deep into all three games, including a historic Game 7 performance to take the title. With the Giants winning 3-2 after four and a half innings, manager Bruce Bochy summoned Madison Bumgarner from the bullpen. Kaufmann Stadium erupted with boos. Bumgarner had crushed the Royals twice already, and the home crowd did not want him to do it once again. Over the last nine World Series Game 7s prior to this one, the home team was 9-0. Bumgarner's job was to shut the Royals down for two or three innings to get the Giants to the back end of their bullpen. As it turns out, Bumgarner was the back end of the bullpen. After allowing Omar Infante to single leading off, Bumgarner was nearly flawless. He retired 14 straight Royals to get closer to the Giants eighth title in franchise history. After some shutdown pitching from Kansas City's bullpen of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis, and Greg Holland, Bumgarner entered the bottom of the ninth with a 3-2 lead. Eric Hosmer struck out and Billy Butler popped out. Then stepped in Alex Gordon, arguably the best player on the Royals roster and one of the best in the American League. Gordon worked the count, then hit a shallow fly ball into center field, which Giants center fielder Gregor Blanco misplayed. It got past him and allowed Gordon to get to third base. Salvador Perez had a chance to tie the game with two outs and a runner on third. He had a chance to be the hero. But Madison Bumgarner could not allow that. Perez, on a 2-2 pitch, hit a popup to third baseman Pablo Sandoval for the third and final out of the game and the series. Madison Bumgarner was not just good in Game 7. He tossed seven innings of one-run baseball in the Giants 7-1 Game 1 victory. He tossed the first World Series shutout since 2003 in Game 5, allowing just four hits, striking out eight. And, just three days later after that 117 pitch performance, Bumgarner threw 68 more in his five shutout innings in Game 7. Over his 21 innings pitched during the World Series, Bumgarner allowed just one run, good for a 0.43 ERA. Royals hitters batted just .127 against him. He struck out seventeen. Without question, Bumgarner was named the World Series MVP, the first pitcher to be named MVP since Cole Hamels in 2008. On the other side of the field, it was a tough ending for the Royals. Kansas City, the long shots, had taken their first postseason birth in 29 years and lived it to the fullest. They came back in the AL Wild Card Game, they swept the Orioles and Angels, and they worked their ways into the hearts of Americans across the country. Losing Game 7, on your home turf, is definitely a tough one. Bumgarner was not the only top performer from the team based in San Francisco. Hunter Pence hit .444 (12-for-27) with a homer and five runs batted in, along with very solid defense. Pablo Sandoval hit .429 (12-for-28) with three extra base hits and four runs batted in. Without Bumgarner's absolute monster series, either Pence or Sandoval would have been a strong candidate to win the MVP award. Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants on winning the 2014 World Series! --Devan F.
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The Kansas City Royals are representing the American League in the World Series. The last time you could say that the year was 1985. George Brett was the third baseman and Bret Saberhagen won 20 games. Since that magical year, they have not been in the postseason. Their miraculous run will continue. The Royals, now winners of eight straight since the beginning of the postseason, have swept the Baltimore Orioles, clinching their ticket to the World Series with a 2-1 win in game four. This team won the American League Wild Card Game, swept the American League Division Series, and now has swept the American League Championship Series. This is a great accomplishment for many. First, Dayton Moore. The general manager of this club built this team from the ground up. The 47-year-old Moore grew up a Royals fan in Witchita, Kansas. And since 2006, he has been the general manager. They have posted a .500 winning percentage or better just twice, this season and last. And now, their homegrown talent brings them to the World Series. Alex Gordon was selected by the Royals with the second overall pick in the 2005 MLB Draft, picked in the same draft as Andrew McCutchen, Ryan Braun, Troy Tulowitzki, Ryan Zimmerman, Justin Upton, Matt Garza, and others. That selection of Gordon was before Moore was GM. But it was the centerpiece of this World Series bound Royals team nine years later. Mike Moustakas, Billy Butler, and Eric Hosmer added to Gordon through the draft. Salvador Perez and Yordano Ventura came through international signings. Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain came through the Zack Greinke trade that sent the hurler to Milwaukee. James Shields was acquired from Tampa. And Jeremy Guthrie and Jason Vargas were all added through free agency. The Royals barbecued (pun intended) the Orioles in this series. They won the first two games in Camden Yards by a combined score of 14-10. Then, they took their pitching home to Kansas City and won on consecutive days by a final score of 2-1. Their bullpen was absolutely their most valuable asset. They allowed just two runs (both in game one) in 16 innings. If the Royals were winning after their starter came out of the game, it would end up leading to a Kansas City victory. Speaking of valuable, Cain, the former Brewers prospect, was the ALCS MVP. During the series, Cain was 8-for-15 (.533) with two doubles, an RBI, a stolen base, and a 1.548 OPS. He added to his fantastic performance with great defense in center field. The Royals will be going to the World Series. How can you not love the sport of baseball? --Devan F. What a great postseason this has been. The cinderella stories in the American League; the resurgence of the Giants and Cardinals in the National League. Tonight, after two days without baseball, the postseason restarts again, with the Orioles and Royals on tap in game one of the American League Championship Series at Camden Yards. Here is my ALCS preview.
The Orioles over the Royals in seven games The Baltimore Orioles and the Kansas City Royals are the two hottest teams in baseball. That's why it is a really hard series to predict. The Orioles have home-field advantage in games one, two, six, and seven, so that is why I like them in this series. Yes, it's such a close series to pick that I'm going with home field advantage in my prediction. Let's break down their strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to offense, the Orioles are the rule of the land. They play in Camden Yards, a bandbox for their sluggers in Nelson Cruz and Adam Jones, both of whom finished with 25 or more home runs. The Orioles scored 705 runs in the regular season, ranking eighth-highest in the majors. Their 211 home runs ranked first. In the ALDS, they showed that they could beat a good pitching staff, besting Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and David Price all in a row, getting clutch hits in nearly every game. The Royals pitching shouldn't be an issue for this high-flying offense. As for the Royals, they don't care about homers. Kansas City ranked dead last in home runs this season with just 95. They take more of a "small ball" approach to scoring runs, stealing the most bases (153) and posting the lowest strikeout rate (16.3 percent) in the majors. In order to beat Baltimore's offense, the Royals need to get into the heads of the Orioles' pitchers and be able to run the bases well, something that obviously has been a strength for them this season. In order to win, they need a very good offensive output, something I am skeptical about. As for the pitching staffs, the Orioles pitching staff worried me in the ALDS against the Tigers, forcing me to select Detroit to advance to this series. Their pitching staff just allowed 11 runs to the Tigers (3.67 runs/game) in the short three games. They have a good bullpen, but their starting pitching just seems destined to fail in the postseason. In those three games, the Orioles matched Scherzer, Verlander, and Price with Chris Tillman, Wei-Yin Chen, and Bud Norris. There is reason to be concerned. The Royals have a really solid pitching staff. Led by James Shields, Yordano Ventura, and Jason Vargas, the Royals rotation is probably the most underrated of the final four teams remaining. Shields is a proven ace. Ventura is breaking on to the scene as a young, hard-throwing righty who went 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA in 31 games (30 starts) this season. Vargas is the journeyman, but posted a solid 3.71 ERA in 30 starts with Kansas City this season. As for their bullpen, I haven't been impressed (that may be an understatement) with how manager Ned Yost has utilized it. We'll see if that comes into play. I'm pretty sure these two teams, as different as they are, will make for a great series. The Orioles are playing for their first World Series birth since 1983 - the Royals playing for their first since 1985. I'm looking forward to watching great baseball. --Devan F. What a game. The Kansas City Royals will get to move on into the postseason and advance to the American League Division Series after defeating the Oakland Athletics 9-8 in 12 innings on Tuesday night. Now, they take on the AL's best Los Angeles Angels and they continue to fight in their first postseason birth since 1985. Here is my American League Division Series preview.
The Detroit Tigers over the Baltimore Orioles Max Scherzer. Justin Verlander. Rick Porcello. David Price. The amount of aces the Tigers have with postseason experience is astounding. Their pitching staff has been solid all season long, but has come to the right place, the postseason, where pitching staffs thrive. While Verlander may be a question mark, I always feel that he comes up big in big games, regardless of how tough of a season he had. On the offensive, the Tigers boast Victor Martinez and Miguel Cabrera, a one-two punch that is ridiculously hot right now. The Orioles aren't that lucky when it comes to a fantastic pitching staff. They have Chris Tillman going in game one, a guy who had a good year. However, I'd rather have any Tigers starter over him. We don't know who will start the rest of the series yet, but Ubaldo Jimenez, Kevin Gausman, Wei-Yin Chen, Bud Norris, or Miguel Gonzalez are their other starters. They do have a high flying offense, with the likes of Nelson Cruz (40 HR), but the Tigers staff could easily shut them down. Their offense appears to be their only hope right now. The Los Angeles Angels over the Kansas City Royals The Los Angeles Angels finished with the American League's best record, so they should get at least to the American League Championship Series. I'm very excited about seeing Mike Trout in the postseason, while Albert Pujols and Josh Hamilton return to the big stage. The Angels attack is one of the most balanced, as a rotation with Jered Weaver, C.J. Wilson, Matt Shoemaker, and Hector Santiago isn't too shabby either. Imagine if Garrett Richards wasn't hurt. As for the Royals, it looks like they will be falling into a whole in game one with Jason Vargas on the hill against Weaver. They won't get James Shields back to pitch until game two or three, so that is a real liability, especially if he cannot start a game five. The Royals showed an exceptional amount of resilience in the Wild Card game, so that may be able to push them past the Angels. But other than that, things look bleak for the team from Kansas City. --Devan F. Every game has it's own storyline. Coming into this one, fans were hyped up about the Jon Lester-James Shields pitching matchup. We could be watching one of the lowest scoring postseason games, with many people predicting this would be a one run game, in favor of either ball club. It's amazing how much this game diverted from that story. In the top of the first, Coco Crisp hit a one-out single off Shields, starting an Athletics rally that would net them two runs on a Brandon Moss homer to right. But Jon Lester would not be able to hold that lead, as after the Royals got one back in the bottom of the inning, they scored two more, on back-to-back hits - a Lorenzo Cain RBI double and a Eric Hosmer RBI single. Lester was acquired by the Athletics back in July, in a trade that sent Yoenis Cespedes to Boston. With Lester likely to be gone in free agency this winter, the Red Sox are looking like the real winners now. But they didn't know that at that time last night. James Shields had come into the sixth inning with a 3-2 lead and was determined to keep it that way. However, things exploded. Sam Fuld led off with a single, followed by a Josh Donaldson walk, putting two runners on with nobody out. Then, Royals manager Ned Yost made a questionable decision by taking Shields out of the game after 88 pitches, and bringing rookie pitcher Yordano Ventura into the game. Ventura had already thrown 77 pitches back on Sunday. Many were questionable of the move and they had a right to feel that way. The first batter Ventura faced, Brandon Moss, hit a three-run homer to center, his second of the game, to give the Athletics the lead once again. When the dust finally settled, the A's had a 7-3 lead, and had just about shut the Royals party down. The Royals had only scored eight runs or more 14 times during the regular season. That remained the score until the bottom of the eighth. But the Royals had one more fight in them. An RBI single from Lorenzo Cain and an Eric Hosmer walk took Jon Lester out of the game in favor of Luke Gregerson. A Billy Butler RBI single made it a two run game and a wild pitch from Gregerson cut the deficit to one. In the ninth, Nori Aoki hit a sacrifice fly to right, and tied the game at seven apiece. The Athletics played this game like their season. They started off slow, then got really hot, and collapsed at the end. With two out in the bottom of the twelfth, and Christian Colon on second base, Royals catcher Salvador Perez finished the Athletics off, with a walk-off single to left. Do you believe in miracles? The Royals certainly do. They're now headed to Los Angeles to take on the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Division Series. Royals 9, Athletics 8 FINAL/12 --Devan F. |
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