Toronto v Kansas City:
Toronto’s offense has carried them to just one series win away from the World Series. They came back from 2-0 down to beat Texas 3-2 and book their spot in the ALCS.
Kansas City also had to go through a Game 5 though, beating the Astros on a strong outing from Johnny Cueto. What does this mean? It means both sides are primed for a fascinating series, which extends to a best of seven.
The Blue Jays have proved that their offense can get them back into any match while the Royals are a side desperate to avenge for their 2014 World Series loss to the Giants. I think it’s hard to look past the Blue Jays in this series, although the form of ace David Price is a concern.
His ERA is 7.20 during this post-season, but if you throw enough darts, one will hit the bullseye – and he’s bound to have a dominant start at some point in the post-season.
But this Blue Jays offence is so good, the pitching doesn’t have to be dominant for them to win. Even restricting an opposition to four runs should be enough for them to get the victory.
The Royals won’t be able to outhit the Jays, and will look to their strong pitching staff and excellent bullpen to try and nullify the Toronto power men. Johnny Cueto is the ace, and he’s ably backed up by Edinson Volquez, and they’ll rest easy knowing the bullpen is anchored by the stellar Wade Davis.
Kansas City are looking for back-to-back World Series appearances for the first time in their history, but I think it’ll be the Blue Jays breaking a 22-year Fall Classic drought with a 4-2 series win.
Chicago v New York:
Both sides have made fairytale runs to be in with a shot of an historic World Series appearance. Both of these sides were up and coming contenders, but at the start of the season, the feeling was that 2015 was a bit too soon.
Far from it - the Mets' young pitching staff has been superb and their offense has been buoyed by the powerful bat of Yoenis Cespedes – arguably the mid-season trade of the year.
Chicago are stocked with rookies, Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber have had rookie of the year seasons, but they’ll be without another rookie, shortstop Addison Russell for the series through injury. The loss of Russell is tough but I still think Chicago will take out the World Series.
They are on an unstoppable wave of momentum, their young offense has exploded into life, and their pitching staff is led by the excellent Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester. Lester has been a gun in the post-season before, and he’ll lead this young side to victory in this one.
It’s been a long wait for the Cubs – their last World Series appearance was in 1945. An even longer drought will be ended if they win the Fall Classic – it's 107 years since they were crowned World Champions.
The Cubs can sense it is close and will win this series 4-1.
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