Oct. 20, 2014
Brandon Applehans
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014-15 season has been a historical run. Arguably destined to be the team to take the Commissioner’s Trophy, the Royals will face the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.
This year, there have been record breaking games, storybook endings and crucial plays. This season is what every fan asks for in nine plus innings.
The Royals have not reached the Major League Baseball playoffs in 29 years, since they won the World Series in 1985. This postseason, they have gone 8-0, breaking a major league record.
Fans thought the Royals had lost the American League wild card game to the Oakland Athletics. The Athletics were up 7-3 in the top of the eighth inning. Here is where the Royals would start their odds-defying run.
Kansas City unleashed their batting power on the Athletics. The game went to extra innings, and with two runs in the bottom of the 12th, the Royals earned a berth in the American League Divisional Series.
This wild-card win sparked a Kansas City run where the team went on to win four straight games in the American League Championship Series. The final two games would come down to the wire, both ending 2-1, giving the Royals a World Series berth.
As for the National League, the buzz around the San Francisco Giants has been building. With World Series championships in 2010 and 2012, the Giants will return once again to the Promised Land in 2014.
The Giants have made it to the World Series in three of the last fi ve years, but this year is different. The Giants, wild-card winners as well, beat the Pittsburg Pirates 8-0 in the National League wild card game. Like the Royals, this is where the Giants run would begin.
One of the most talked about games for the Giants was in the National League Divisional Series against the Washington Nationals. In the bottom of the 18th inning, first baseman Brandon Belt homered to give the Giants the win and a commanding 2-0 series lead.
Both the ALCS and NLCS came down to pitching and hitting. In the 2014 playoffs the Royals and Giants pitching put opposing teams in their place.
Giant’s ace pitcher Madison Bumgarner had multiple games with seven innings pitched in the both the series against the Washington Nationals and the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series.
The San Francisco Giants took a commanding 3-1 lead over the Cardinals and their hitting came through in game five.
In the final game of the NLCS, left fielder Travis Ishikawa was the first player to end a series with a walk-off home run. Ishikawa was released from the Pittsburg Pirates in April, the team the Giants routed in the wild-card game. Before that, the Giants had gone six straight games without a home run. In the team’s final NLCS game, all six runs were scored by home runs.
Bumgarner won the NLCS most valuable player.
Both teams, evenly matched with similar bullpens, defensive strategies and offensive firepower, will meet in the 2014 World Series. The Royals will host the Giants in game one on Oct. 21 at 6:07 p.m.