Oct 23, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA;Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
3. DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE
Every KC Royals fans knows about KC’s best-in-baseball defense. To be honest, they haven’t put on quite the show they did in the 2014 post-season. Yet, the Kansas City Royals defense has made some plays (Alcides Escobar in particular).
For the World Series, however, I believe the Mets mediocre defense will be more visible than Kansas City’s excellence. The KC Royals contact-hitting ability, plus the expanse of Kauffman Stadium, will help expose the New York Mets patch-work defense.
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The Mets are a team playing a second baseman (Wilmer Flores) at shortstop after Dodgers rental Chase Utley slammed into Ruben Tejada in the ALDS. New York has also been forced substitute corner outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in center-field for Juan Lagares due to a series of injuries.
That’s a formula for disaster in Kauffman Stadium against a team that will put the ball in play more often than any team in baseball.
Overall, the Mets rank 14th in team Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR 6.3), 17th in DEF(2.3), and 21st in Defensive Runs Saved (DRS -7). And, the Mets complied those numbers before suffering the injuries that have forced manager Terry Collins to play inferior defenders during much of the post-season.
The KC Royals are going to give that jury-rigged defense their stiffest test of the post-season. I think they’ll break down enough that it will cost them in at least one game during this World Series.
That might be the edge the Kansas City Royals need to take the crown.
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