As the New York Mets anxiously await their opponent in the 2015 World Series, manager Terry Collins has everything set up exactly as he wants with five days off to set up the pitching staff however he chooses.
The Kansas City Royals are one win away from securing their second consecutive berth in the Fall Classic, going back to Kauffman Stadium with two chances to close out the Toronto Blue Jays starting on Friday.
Looking ahead to the World Series, the potential pitching matchups that could happen regardless of who the Mets are playing will be stellar. Johnny Cueto can get another opportunity to prove himself on the big stage, or David Price can exorcise all of his postseason demons.
World Series Schedule
Projected Pitching Matchups
Mets Rotation
There is no mystery for the Mets rotation, at least as things stand right now. Collins did have to rearrange some things for the National League Championship Series against Chicago because their previous series went the distance, so Matt Harvey took the hill in Game 1.
However, by virtue of having additional time off before the World Series, Collins can go back to how he had things set up in the division series with Jacob deGrom starting the first game.
After deGrom, Collins could turn to Harvey or Noah Syndergaard. In the division series against Los Angeles, Thor got the call in Game 2. There has been so much focus on Harvey’s arm over the final month, thanks in large part to his agent, Scott Boras.
In September, Tim Rohan of the New York Times quoted Boras recalling a conversation with Mets general manager Sandy Alderson on how the two sides agreed to handle Harvey in his first season back following Tommy John surgery.
“I told him as the doctors go along, there’s going to be an innings limit,” Boras said. “He goes, ‘We understand there’s an innings limit.’”
New York’s playoff run has obviously changed many things, with Harvey’s 2015 innings total currently standing at 202 after his two playoff starts.
Collins was concerned about swelling in Harvey’s arm after he was hit by a comebacker in Game 1 of the NLCS, per ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin.
“He’s pretty sore and pretty swelled up,” Collins said. “He, as we sit here today, is a go (for Game 5, if it was needed). But that could certainly change in next couple of days. … I was pretty surprised at how swelled up it was yesterday. So we certainly are going to keep a really close eye on it the next couple of days.”
By clinching early, the Mets were able to avoid having to rush Harvey back in order to give his arm more time to heal.
New York’s starters have been dominant this postseason, as noted by Hardball Talk’s D.J. Short:
One notable difference for the rotation in the World Series, whether it’s against Kansas City or Toronto, is neither team strikes out with much frequency.
The Cubs, for all their lineup strengths, were a bad matchup against the Mets because they led MLB with 1,518 strikeouts during the regular season. The Blue Jays had the seventh-fewest strikeouts (1,151), while the Royals are the only team that didn’t strike out at least 1,100 times (973).
As impressive as deGrom, Syndergaard, Harvey and Steven Matz have looked in the playoffs, they will be facing a lineup the likes of which they have not seen in the postseason. They are good enough to dominate anyone, but seeing a repeat performance from the NLCS is asking a lot.
Royals/Blue Jays Rotation
Price’s playoff struggles have been well-documented thus far, though Toronto manager John Gibbons continues to make questionable decisions with his star left-hander, as noted by Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports:
There was Price, again, in a repeat of the division series, when Blue Jays manager John Gibbons inexplicably used him in relief during a game Toronto led by six runs. Price never got into Game 5 on Wednesday, spared by Kansas City’s inability to create a scenario that would have goaded Gibbons into deploying him again.
Even though there is the lingering question of Price’s ability to succeed consistently in the playoffs, he’s not been horrible every time out.
Passan provided the pitches from Price’s first five innings of Game 2 against Kansas City:
Price added another 1-2-3 frame in the sixth inning, but things came undone in the seventh inning starting with a botched play by Ryan Goins in which he called off Jose Bautista on a lazy pop fly, the ball dropped and flood gates opened for a five-run inning.
The Blue Jays best starter in the playoffs, surprisingly, has been Marco Estrada. The 32-year-old was a back-end starter, at best, with the Milwaukee Brewers the previous three years. He moves to Toronto, posts a 3.13 ERA during the regular season and has allowed five earned runs in 19.1 innings this postseason.
Yet even with those numbers, Estrada should still be Toronto’s No. 3 option if it gets to the World Series because Price and Marcus Stroman are superior talents.
The problem for Gibbons is Price and Stroman haven’t been at their best this postseason. In Game 3 against Kansas City, Stroman did battle his way through 6.1 innings, allowing 11 hits and four runs in an 11-8 win.
Stroman‘s arm is as fresh as any starting pitcher still playing. He missed most of this season with a torn ACL, limiting him to four starts late in the year and three in the playoffs covering a total of 46.1 innings.
The Royals’ rotation is fascinating because manager Ned Yost is basically letting his starters go five innings, regardless of how they perform, then turning things over to his dominant bullpen.
Kansas City has played 10 games so far this postseason, with starters lasting just 49.2 innings. Cueto (twice) and Edinson Volquez are the only two starters who have made it through at least six innings.
Despite having a bullpen that’s thrown three more innings than anyone else so far this postseason, Royals relievers have an astounding 53-9 strikeout-to-walk mark in 37.1 innings and a 2.65 ERA.
Per Richard Justice of MLB.com, the Royals seem to have found the perfect bullpen that blends dominance and longevity:
Yost doesn’t need Cueto, Volquez or Chris Young to dominate for his team to win. The starters can give up three or four runs over four innings, turn things over to Luke Hochevar or Danny Duffy as a bridge to Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis and win a lot of games.
It’s why the Royals are so hard to beat in October but also why their formula is impossible to replicate. Bullpens are among the most volatile spots to fill on any roster, which is why there is so much turnover for teams during the regular season.
The Royals can call on Davis and Herrera to get nine outs, if needed, so opponents know they have to strike early or they are out of luck late in games.
Stats via ESPN.com.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com