The Kansas City Royals have settled into a groove as the American League's unquestioned best team. Some say the playoffs will be a different animal for the scrappy boys in blue, but we're not buying it. Here's our list of 3 Reasons Why The Royals Are A Lock To Win The World Series.
3. The Johnny Cueto Factor
An impact pitcher of Cueto's ilk can transform an entire starting rotation, especially with just how untouchable Cueto can be when he's operating at even 90% effectiveness/capacity. All of sudden, the Edison Volquez/Danny Duffy/Jeremy Guthrie/Yordano Ventura quartet has a veteran anchor who is poised to run roughshod over best-of five and best-of-seven matchups like Madison Bumgarner (boo) did last year.
The Royals could theoretically need only 3-4 wins out of the aforementioned guys if both the ALDS and ALCS serve as Cueto's playground -- something we'd put money on and/or our first-born child. From there, it's all about destiny, baby.
2. Depth Is As Depth Does
First, let's get this out of the way -- Ben Zobrist's Superman-like versatility has reinforced this lineup in such a way that an already-deep 1-through-9 order has seen its potentcy quotient increase dramatically. In short, there are very few breaks for any given opposing pitcher on any given day because Kansas City has so many weapons with "Next Man Up" magic in their bats. If you mow down Hosmer, a soon-to return Alex Gordon will get you. If he can't, Mike Moustakas/Lorenzo Cain/etc etc. etc. will pick up the load.
Other lineups may get more national publicity, but this lineup has been robot-fine tuned for October.
1. The 10th Man Factor
The NFL's Seattle Seahawks' 12th Man pales in comparison to the utter New Year's Eve frenzy that Royals fans whip up in big-game situations. The 2014 postseason alone has bumped up Kauffman Stadium on our "Stadiums You Must Experience Before You Die" list. If a die-hard A's fan such as the man behind this curtain can swallow his 2014 AL Wild Card bile and fall in love with a city that proves baseball isn't dead, you know there's magic kicking off those fountains.
No fan base does it better. And in a game where home-field advantage matters the most, that spells World Series success.
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