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Bumgarner, Shields open World Series Tuesday
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 10/21/2014  at  5:12:00 AM
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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (96-76)

at KANSAS CITY ROYALS (97-73)

2014 World Series
Game 1
First pitch: Tuesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: San Francisco -110, Kansas City +100, Total: 6.5

The 2014 World Series kicks off in a rare spot, Kansas City, as the Royals host the Giants in Game 1 on Tuesday night.

San Francisco has jumped through plenty of hoops to reach its third World Series in five years as it dominated in the Wild Card game and followed that by losing just two games (7-2) over the next two series. When facing the Cardinals in the NLCS, the Giants lost only one contest, as all of their victories came by three runs or less. Their series clincher was an exciting 6-3 win as a walk-off, three-run homer from OF Travis Ishikawa gave San Francisco the National League title. With a five-game hitting streak coming into this one, 3B Pablo Sandoval has provided consistency for this offense while hitting four doubles and scoring six runs in the postseason (10 games). Kansas City has a perfect 8-0 record so far in the playoffs, but has not gotten this far without some very tough games, as six of its eight wins came by two or fewer runs, and four were extra-inning contests. The Royals were victors in each of their past two games of the ALCS against Baltimore by a score of 2-1, as closer Greg Holland earned a save in each of the four wins. With 13 hits in the postseason thus far, 1B Eric Hosmer has been the team’s offensive MVP. He has smacked two homers with 8 RBI and five runs. Both team’s aces will take the mound for this one, as LHP Madison Bumgarner (2-1, 1.42 ERA) of the Giants goes head-to-head with RHP James Shields (1-0, 5.63 ERA) for the host Royals. Throughout the year, San Francisco has been a solid road team with a 47-39 record (.547) away from home while Kansas City is 46-39 (.541) at Kauffman Stadium. These clubs have played one series over the past three seasons, but it came recently as the Royals swept the Giants in Kansas City while outscoring them 16-6 over three contests in August. Some trends bettors should know include that San Francisco is 11-1 (.917) as a road favorite of -110 or higher with Bumgarner pitching this season while the Royals are 45-21 (.682) in 2014 with a hot bullpen whose ERA is under 3.00 over its previous 15 games. As far as injuries are concerned, the Giants continue to be without OF Angel Pagan (back) and 2B Marco Scutaro (back) for the duration of the postseason, while Kansas City has no significant omissions from its lineup.

Madison Bumgarner put together another tremendous year as the ace of this staff after posting a career-high 9.1 K/9 while throwing more than 200 innings for the fourth consecutive season. He also showed some amazing control (1/8 BB/9) while giving up 21 home runs in his 217.1 frames (0.87 HR/9). He’s continued his playoff dominance this year while starting four games and allowing six runs (5 ER) over 31.2 IP. In that time his team is 3-1 while he has a solid 28:5 K/BB ratio. Overall in his postseason career, he is 5-3 with a 2.67 ERA and 1.01 WHIP while being amazing in two World Series starts in which he has held opponents scoreless over 15 frames and allowed a mere five hits and four walks with 14 strikeouts. Bumgarner has faced the Royals just once in his career, which occurred recently on Aug. 8. In that start, he suffered a loss after allowing four runs (3 ER) on seven hits in eight innings with five strikeouts and no walks. Both 2B Omar Infante (4-for-10, 1 double) and DH Billy Butler (2-for-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI) have done well in the matchup over limited at-bats, while OF Norichika Aoki (0-for-13) has been horrendous against the lefty. Including the postseason, the bullpen for San Francisco has gone 37-15 (.712) this year with a 2.93 ERA and 1.05 WHIP, and is 51-of-70 (73%) in save opportunities. Closer Santiago Casilla (0.00 ERA, 4 saves) has given up just two hits over 6.2 postseason innings while going 4-for-4 in save opportunities.

James 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.


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