25001 Kansas City Royals win World Series* -110 vs Field wins World Series x5
902 Kansas City Royals* -103 vs San Francisco Giants x2
901 San Francisco Giants/Kansas City Royals* Over 6 -118 x2
I see this game as a toss up with the SP adv going to Bum but the Royals have been putting up a lot of runs on the board against left-handed pitching recently, evidenced by the Over going 5-1-1 in the Royals' last seven games versus lefties.And KC is playing better ball at at present imo. Bumgarner will be working on his normal four days of rest, Shields has not pitched in 11 days and that may not be good for Shields who is 1-0 with a 5.63 ERA in three postseason starts. Bumgarner is 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA in four playoff starts and has been light's out in his last four road starts in post season (4-0) giving up 2 runs, striking out 28, walking 5 over over 30.2 innings of work. Well I made a pretty good case to play Bum but I like Shields also. Shields proved his worth this year as he posted an eighth consecutive season with double-digit victories while recording an ERA better than 3.60 for the fourth straight year. He had his best control (1.7 BB/9) since the 2008 campaign as he finished off the regular season with a 2.31 ERA over five September starts. His solid performance did not continue into the playoffs though, as he has a 5.63 ERA and 1.63 WHIP in three outings this postseason. However, K.C. has scored 25 runs in these three starts to bail Shields out. In his nine career playoff starts, Shields is 3-4 with a 5.19 ERA and 1.47 WHIP, while throwing 5.2 scoreless innings and allowing seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in his one World Series outing back in 2008. He also pitched an amazing game in his lone career start against the Giants on Aug. 9, tossing a four-hit shutout with five strikeouts and only one walk. The only current San Francisco hitter with multiple hits against Shields is OF Gregor Blanco who is 4-for-7, while OF Hunter Pence is a very poor 0-for-11 in the matchup against the veteran. The true strength of this club is its bullpen, which is 34-18 (.654) with a 3.19 ERA and 1.23 WHIP, while saving a tremendous 59-of-71 (83%) games. Greg Holland (1.13 ERA, 6 saves) has quickly grown into one of the best closers in the game, and saved all four contests in the ALCS. In the 2014 postseason, the right-hander has six saves and a pitching line of: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 BB's and 10 K's.
This is a tough call as Shields is typically not at his best at home while Bumgarner is absolutely terrific outside the state of California. Neither team has exceptionally strong offenses, both play good D. But how can you go against the home dog in KC? Not me! This is a team that has continually found ways to win tough games, with the bats, with the D, and with the bullpen. They took down the two best teams in the AL. SF's margin for error is very small here with KC. Game probaly come down to Bullpen and Defense. KC has both, and both are better, and momentum , and I hope the long layoff does not hut to much but it has to be part of this equation It simplest terms if KC has a 1 or 2 run lead in any game past the 7th inning, and you have to go through Herrera, Davis and Holland as an opposing team to win, I would estimate your chances of winning at 20% or less in that scenario.... So my play for Game 1 is on KC x2. I want be surprised to see this game go Under 7 but I still have to try the Over 6
GLTA
