How did we get here?

Kansas City Royals: The Royals powered their way through the AL Central this season, winning their division by 12 games, came back to beat the Astros in 5 games, after being down 2-1 in the series, and down 6-2 going into the 8^th inning of game 4, which could have won the series for Houston. Then came Toronto, a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut, coming off a comeback of their own against the Texas Rangers, after being down 2-0, to get to the ALCS. The Royals would not be denied however, as they took the first two games of the series, only to watch the Blue Jays come back again to tie the series, it looked like Toronto was ready to surge into the 2015 Fall Classic, only to have their hopes crushed in the next two games, losing 14-2 in game 5, then the nail in the coffin with a 4-3 win in game 6.

New York Mets: How did the Mets get here? After starting the season 47-42, and trailing the nationals (48-39), the NL East seemed to be the Nationals to lose, and sure enough, they lost it. This was more of a case of the Mets taking it from them than the Nationals losing it, the New York Mets earned their way to the World Series, and they surged immensely in the second half, to the tune of a 43-30 record. After seeing large division leads disappear on them in the past, it was good to see them take the lead and hold it. As for their road in the playoffs, it was not easy by any stretch of the imagination, drawing the Dodgers in the first round, a team that seemed to have it all. None of that mattered when it came to crunch time, the Mets took game 1 on a stellar performance by Jacob DeGrom. Game 2 was a different story, as LA prevailed, but they awoke a sleeping giant on this night, when Chase Utley slid hard into second base, where he appeared to intentionally take out Ruben Tejada, breaking Tejada’s fibula in the process. The Mets have only lost 1 game since then: Game 4 of the NLDS. The Mets would go on to sweep the Cubs en route to an unlikely World Series berth.

Interesting stat of the series:

According to CBS, the odds of each team to win the World Series before the start of this season were the same for both teams: 28-1

Matchup to watch: The Mets power arms versus the Royals lineup

The Mets starters are a great group that any lineup could struggle with, however, let’s not forget that the Royals were 7^th in Major League Baseball with 724 runs this season, 3^rd in batting average (.269), and 11^th in on base percentage (.322), so this is a group that can definitely hit the ball. This is the matchup that will determine this series, the Mets will score a few runs, will the Royals be able to muster up enough offense to keep up?

Prediction

Back to the Future was so close to getting this right, but the Cubs didn’t quite make it, however, I will go with the NL team in the New York Mets to win this series because their pitching staff will prove to be too much for the Royals offense, especially when the series is in New York. The weak spot is in the relief pitching, but the Mets have enough quality starters to throw out there, and should get more than enough innings out of them to relieve any pressure on the rest of the staff. DeGrom, Harvey, Colon, and Syndergaard, this is one of the best groups of starters across the majors, and I think they get it done. Mets win the series in 6 games.