It didn’t take long for the first position by position breakdown to come out, as distributed by Anthony Castrovince. I certainly have disagreements with some of his assessments.
First, he ranks Salvador Perez ahead of Travis d’Arnaud. Perez had a .280 OBP this year, but he did hit 20 homers. d’Arnaud had a .340 OBP, but he played in just 67 games. I’d call this a wash, or maybe a little in favor of K.C. because of Perez’ durability.
Eric Hosmer had a big year at first base for the Royals with 18 homers and 93 RBI. He also hit close to .300 with a high OBP. While Lucas Duda hit 27 homers, he was streaky, but showed signs of busting out with three extra base hits and five RBI in game five of the NLCS. I’d once again give slight advantage to Kansas City. We agree.
Second base isn’t even a conversation. The Mets have Babe Murphy. The Royals have mid-season acquisition Ben Zobrist. Right now, nobody on the planet can contain Murph, as he is a man amongst boys. Advantage Mets. We agree.
Third base is interesting. Mike Moustakas hit .284 with 22 homers and David Wright missed most of the year with spinal stenosis. Despite a couple of big hits in the playoffs for Wright, Moustakas is clearly better in my mind. We disagree here.
No point in spending a lot of time on shortstop. Alcides Escobar was the ALCS MVP, and Wilmer Flores is a back-up. Advantage Royals. We agree.
In left field, if we were just talking Michael Conforto versus Alex Gordon, I’d go Mets, but Michael Cuddyer does a good job of being an automatic out against lefties. Slight advantage to the Royals here, despite Gordon not being all the way back from injury. We agree.
In right field, Curtis Granderson has been the Mets’ rock. He’s the catalyst and igniter, and he’s stolen bases this post-season as well. Alex Rios has certainly woken up, but he’s not been as good as Grandy. Advantage Mets. We agree.
Here’s my biggest problem. Lorenzo Cain is better than Yoenis Cespedes? Are you friggen kidding me? Cain his .307 with 16 homers and 72 RBI, while Cespedes hit .291 with 35 homers and 105 RBI. Cespedes has a better arm, while Cain has a slight edge in speed. I will take Cespedes over Cain any day of the week. We disagree here.
The Mets starting pitching is not only better than the Royals, but it’s one of the best post-season rotations in baseball history. With deGrom, Harvey and Syndergaard, with Steven Matz behind them, this is an easy call, despite Yordano Ventura, Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto being on the other side. We agree here.
As for the bullpens, the Royals have a damn good one leading up to starter-turned-closer Wade Davis. The Mets have a bunch of question marks before Jeurys Familia, although I have been impressed by Jon Niese, Bartolo Colon and Addison Reed this post-season. Clear advantage to the Royals here. We agree.
As for the closer, this is a great matchup. Wade Davis had a great season, going 8-1 with a .94 ERA and 17 saves. He took over as closer after Greg Holland needed Tommy John Surgery. Jeurys Familia went 2-2 with a 1.85 ERA, and he saved 43 games, tying a Mets’ record. I give a slight advantage to the Mets here. We disagree.
As for the DH/bench, the Royals have more, and we agree here, but I think the Mets are still going to win this series…in six games. Why do I say that? Pitching wins championships, and the Mets have the clear advantage in that category.
I can’t wait until Tuesday. May the best team win.
