World Series Preview
Every year. Except last one? Maybe I forgot last one. Mostly every year.
CONTEXT
The Kansas City Royals and the San Francisco Giants will face each other in the 2014 World Series, which begins on Tuesday. The Royals have advanced this far by defeating the Oakland Athletics, the Los Angeles Angels, and the Baltimore Orioles. The Giants have advanced this far by defeating the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Washington Nationals, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Both the Royals and Giants managed to defeat their opponents by outplaying them in a short series.
KEY PLAYERS
Kansas City:
Roster
San Francisco:
Roster
Both the Royals and Giants are filled to the brim with possible difference-makers. The 50 listed above will likely be the most important.
KEY QUESTIONS
Can the San Francisco Giants outscore the Kansas City Royals?
They can.
Can the Kansas City Royals outscore the San Francisco Giants?
They can.
Will one of the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals outscore the other four times?
Most certainly yes!
X FACTOR
The Royals will play a maximum of four games at home, while the Giants will play a maximum of three games at home. The home crowds may or may not help. I imagine there are also intangibles somewhere.
CONCLUSION
Both the Royals and Giants are good teams. The Royals are probably better by a tiny bit. If you re-played the World Series a million times, maybe 50-55% of the time the Royals would be crowned as champions. This World Series will be played once. One of these teams will win four games. The other probably won’t. The outcome will mean everything, and nothing.