Two Cinderella's in the American League Championship Series, as the Royals are back for the first time since 1985 and the Orioles for the first time since 1997. The Orioles swept the Tigers, beating the last three AL Cy Young winners, while the Royals swept the Angels with continued late game heroics.
Both pitching staffs are good, with James Shields, Yordano Ventura, and Jason Vargas on one side and Chris Tillman, Bud Norris, and Miguel Gonzealez on the other. However, its the outstanding bullpens which has brought these teams so far. Greg Holland and Wade Davis for the Royals and Zach Britton and Andrew Miller for the Orioles have allowed the teams to win close games, by not allowing leads to be blown. As far as the offenses, the Orioles rely on the longball, and ranked 1st in the majors in HR, with Nelson Cruz, Adam Jones, and Chris Davis in the middle of the lineup. Meanwhile, the Royals rely on small ball, leading the league in steals, with guys like Jarrod Dyson, Alcides Escobar, and Lorenzo Cain causing havoc on the basepaths. Whichever team can assert their style of play the best will win the series.
in 7NLCS
Here we go again, with a rematch of the 2012 NLCS, and the winners of the last 4 NL pennants going at it, as the Giants upset the top-seeded Nationals and the Cardinals knocked around Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers.
It starts and ends with pitching for the these teams, and the quality of starters is markable, with Madison Bumgarner, Jake Peavy, and Ryan Vogelsong on one side, and Adam Wainwright, Lance Lynn, and John Lackey on the other side. Safe to say runs will be hard to come by in this series, especially given how each team scored in the NLDS, with the Giants taking advantage of shoddy defense by the Nationals, and the Cardinals getting unlikely power from Matt Carpenter and Matt Adams.
In the end, although it's a tossup, I'm going to go with the Giants due to the fact it is an even number year (They won World Series in 2010 and 2012).
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