Posey, Bumgarner have Giants on verge of Sim Series title
How will this year's World Series play out? Using the Dynasty League Baseball online simulation, Paste BN Sports' Steve Gardner and DLB designer Mike Cieslinski will pre-play each game to provide some insight into the key matchups and strategy fans can expect to see in the Fall Classic.
Game 5: Kansas City at San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO -- Buster Posey hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth inning and Madison Bumgarner tossed a complete game to give the San Francisco Giants a 3-1 win over the Kansas City Royals and put them one win away from a title in Paste BN Sports' annual Simulated World Series.
The Giants jumped on top early against Royals starter James Shields with three straight two-out hits. Hunter Pence drove in Posey from second to make it 1-0.
Shields settled down and the Royals tied the game in the top of the fifth on a leadoff double by Omar Infante and a sacrifice fly by Nori Aoki.
That set the stage for Posey's heroics. After Shields had retired the first two batters in the inning, the All-Star catcher launched a 378-foot blast to left-center to untie the game. Sandoval and Pence combined to plate another run on back-to-back doubles to provide the final margin.
From there, it was all Bumgarner. The Giants bullpen hardly needed to stir as the ace left-hander scattered eight hits and kept the Royals from mounting any kind of a rally.
On offense, Posey, Sandoval and Pence collected eight of San Francisco's 10 hits in the game.
The series now heads back to Kansas City with the Giants needing to win one of two games to wrap up the title.
What to watch in (the actual) Game 5
-- Given Madison Bumgarner's success this postseason, it's a near-certainty that he'll pitch well in Game 5. The big question is whether or not the Royals' James Shields can keep his team close. In our simulation, he did. However, Posey's home run turned the tide and there was nothing a well-rested Royals bullpen could do about it with Bumgarner also working on full rest.
-- With Bumgarner on the mound, the Royals may want to alter their starting lineup to get another right-handed bat in there. The most likely change is putting their usual designated hitter, Billy Butler, at first base instead of lefty-swinging Eric Hosmer. In our simulated Game 5, Butler had the most success of any Royals hitter with three singles in four at-bats.
In that situation, Hosmer provides a great bat off the bench. But with Bumgarner pitching a complete game, Hosmer never got an opportunity to hit.
-- The Royals could also return right fielder Nori Aoki to the starting lineup after starting Jarrod Dyson in Game 4. Although they both hit left-handed, Aoki hit .363 with a .428 on-base percentage against southpaws during the regular season. Dyson hit .250 with a .316 OBP.
That move comes with a cost on defense though. Aoki doesn't have the range Dyson and Lorenzo Cain do in the outfield. And in our Game 5 simulation, Sandoval's double in the fifth inning went just over Aoki's outstretched glove.
-- Speaking of the Royals' vaunted bullpen, even if they are all able to pitch an inning (or more), there's no advantage if they never have a lead to protect. That's why it will be extremely important for both teams to score first and be able to play the game their way.
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Dynasty League Baseball, from the designer of Pursue the Pennant, is available in both the original Board version and the online version featuring "Series," Greatest Team bracket tournaments and continuous ownership draft leagues.
Pre-play your own 2014 World Series by signing up at Dynasty League Baseball.com and selecting "Series."
Special thanks to Baseball Info Solutions for their statistical analysis.