World Series

Watching Matt Harvey mowing down the Royals I thought to myself there's no way I'm holding him to a pitch count tonight. Then I recalled that he had controversy all year long about his usage and wondered if his agent would let him get to 110 pitches. I ignored all that thinking Harvey should be out there in the 9th. But when the coaching staff let him know they were going with Familia instead, Harvey bullied his way back onto the mound. I hated that. You hear similar stories about Bumgarner but Bumgarner announced his presence with confidence whereas Harvey announced his presence with hubris. Two batters in, his brilliant performance was over, Familia had to be brought in out of rhythm and the Royals did what the Royals do. Harvey was so brilliant for 8 innings, so awful for the last one and that's all it took. (By the way, Volquez was almost as awesome as Harvey last night, he kept them in the game and staying close is how this Royals team works)

Loves me some Eric Hosmer! Loved that he took off from third with the game on the line. He made the Mets make a play and they didn't make it. That guy is so money, Royal legend for the rest of his life, they'd be crazy to ever let that guy get away.

I had the Royals in 7, thought they were the better team, the more aggressive team and would be victorious but I thought the Mets had better pitching and would push the Royals harder than they did. Here's a stat: in this year's playoffs, the Royals scored 44 runs from the 8th inning on. Jeez, that's how you win championships.

World Series

The two best teams I watched this year were the Blue Jays and the Pirates, neither of whom are still around. The Blue Jays seems to get frustrated by the no-quit-ness of the Royals and even when it looked like the Jays had turned the corner and were about to come back on them, the Royals kept the hitting going and closed out the series. The tenacity of the Royals is their best attribute, the pitching is okay, the lineup is good but not great, the defense is solid, but they never quit, they make use of all 27 outs and that keeps them in games that they probably ought to lose.

The Pirates fell prey to the 1-game playoff for the 3rd straight year. Sucks, but that's the way it goes, anyone can win one game in baseball. The Cubs blasted through their division opponents with timely power hitting and shutdown pitching. But against the Mets, the weather turned cool and that alone seemed to finish off the Cubs. I thought the Mets played well but more than that the Cubs failed to play from behind, they were the un-Royals, watching games slip away rather than aggressively trying to win them back. The Mets pitching was really good and the bats showed up at the right time but I can't help thinking they've been overachieving all year long. They exposed the lack of depth of the Dodgers and caught the Cubs at a bad moment. Are the Mets really this good?

Looking forward to this Series, these are not two teams I would've thought we'd see at the end of the year but they're both playing well at the right time and here we are. This match-up is all about the Mets pitching against the Royals lineup. The Mets should be able to break through against the Royal staff but if the Royals can score on the Mets, they'll win. I'm betting they will. I'll take the Royals in 7.