Exactly. They have a team-wide mindset, or philosophy, or whatever you want to call it, and they execute it very, very well, from the first inning to the last. Fundamental baseball is awesome. Hilarious to see the Mets get their last out on a Little League baserunning blunder, too.
Uh, of course not. Neshek was nails as the 8th inning all year, but they had to rearrange the pen in Sept/Oct.
No you don't because you still blow that 8th inning. The Royals are masters at hitting in the clutch, and they have had that determination to never quit all postseason long. It wasn't really about what the Astros could or couldn't do, it was what the Royals could do. The Royals find a way to hit on any pitcher, regardless of how good they are. Playing the "if" game is pretty stupid in baseball because there's a lot of variables to baseball. Funny to see all the people in here that are mad. The Royals are going to win it all. Accept it. They were the best team in baseball.
Yep, Astros wasn't going to beat the Royals not with that bull pen and inexperience. I'm just glad we faced them at all in the post season. This is what it takes to get to the world series.
They might win it all, but they weren't the best team in baseball. They got very lucky against the Astros, and they got lucky again last night.
The Royals worst innings this season from an OPS perspective were the 8th and 9th innings. I guess it's the 1st and 6th innings where clutchness really defines itself! http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/split.cgi?t=b&team=KCR&year=2015#inning
And they were lucky in game 2 vs. Toronto.... and lucky last year against Oakland.... etc, etc, etc. At some point, you have to admit they are who they are... a damn good baseball team that has all the components (starting pitching, hitting, situational hitting, bullpen) to succeed in both the regular season and the playoffs.
Luck factors into any postseason run. The best team on paper needs some luck to win. But, it can't be all luck when you have as many runs as they do 7th inning and on. You can call it taking advantage of mediocre bullpen players, although they've exposed the Mets pen a bit too which had the best pen pitcher they faced in the postseason in Familia.
They put balls in play, which helps lead to more errors, misplays, and seeing eye hits, but the amount they've gotten is quite improbable. For the most part, their starting pitching hasn't been very good this season.
Luck is the postseason. The 162 game schedule determines who the best team in baseball is more sensibly than the playoffs do.
I like how you guys can judge luck versus skill. Some people would argue that the rockets got lucky versus the clips verus others that say we were clutch. all prospective.
