Outlook
Overall, this looks to have a making of a long and competitive series. The Royals have a lineup that can get you from the top to the bottom. They don’t walk a lot abut they don’t strike out a lot either. Their defense and their bullpen is great, which could be huge factors.
One concern for them: Their starting rotation, which could also be a huge factor, especially comparing to the Mets rotation which has been dominant and I think that can be the decider. Pitching does win games, indeed, and the Mets rotation clearly has the edge.
The Royals are a good fastball hitting team and the Mets starters all throw hard, but another thing is that all the Mets starters are not just fastball throwers. They all have good secondary pitches which makes them even more unhittable and which separates them from other strong starting staffs.
If the Mets play good defense up in the middle, the Royals won’t be able to do too much offensively. Furthermore, the Mets have an offense that can definitely hurt you when they’re on with power bats and surprisingly speed as well in the playoffs. So, the Mets offense can clearly get to the Royals starters, along with the Mets strong rotation, the Mets would not be trailing by the time the Royals throw in their strong bullpen and as long as the Mets face Herrera and Davis when they’re up, that’s not good for KC.
Oh, and the Mets have a stopgap closer as well in Familia when they have a lead in the 9th or even 8th inning (since Familia can get more than three outs during a save).
In the end I believe the starting pitching depth is too much in the Mets favor, and most of the time that becomes the deciding factor in a playoff series, most notably the World Series.
