The Royals and Giants are in the World Series and it’ll probably be wild
The Kansas City Royals have swept their way through the postseason after earning an American League wild-card spot, knocking off the two top teams in the AL in their first playoff berth since 1985.
The San Francisco Giants are reading from a familiar script. As the second National League wild-card team, they were underdogs again in the postseason, rattling of a series of wins that proved the pundits wrong one more time. Just like during their 2010 and 2012 World Series runs.
Wild-card team vs. wild-card team, doesn’t their World Series matchup have to be wild? It’s the first such wild card vs. wild card since the Giants lost to the Angels in 2002.
The Giants and the Royals have both shown a knack for winning in interesting ways this postseason and bringing plenty of drama to the late innings.
The Royals run fast, play great defense and shorten games because of their lockdown bullpen. They’re also going through an uncharacteristic power surge, hitting the second more homers in the postseason despite hitting the fewest in the regular season.
The Giants, meanwhile, have won games because of go-ahead wild pitches, walk-off errors and walk-off homers. They’ve continued to find ways to win, both tried-and-true and befuddling.
You can expect this World Series to be a bit funky. Consider these reasons:
• It’s the first time two teams that didn’t win 90 games in the regular season are meeting in the postseason.
• It’s a clash of Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who’s sometimes called a genius, and Royals manager Ned Yost, who’s sometimes called a nincompoop. Both of their tactics this postseason, though, have been working.
• There’s very little history between these two teams. They’ve only played 12 times — ever. Three of them were this August in Kansas City. The Royals swept the Giants. They’ve also won nine of the 12 meetings.
We’ll find out if there is indeed World Series wackiness in store next week when the two teams play Game 1 on Tuesday in Kansas City.
Here’s the entire World Series schedule:
Game 1: Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City
Game 2: Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City
Game 3: Oct. 24 at AT&T Park in San Francisco
Game 4: Oct. 25 at AT&T Park in San Francisco
Game 5: Oct. 26 at AT&T Park in San Francisco
Game 6: Oct. 28 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City
Game 7: Oct. 29 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City
*all games starts at 8:07 p.m. ET and air on Fox.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
