Angels broadcaster Gubicza picks KC in WS
Former pitcher won World Series with Royals in 1985
KANSAS CITY -- Angels broadcaster Mark Gubicza looks at a young, dynamic Mets rotation of Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz and sees shades of the Royals staff that helped them win it all in 1985.
Gubicza was only 23 then, in his second of 13 seasons with Kansas City. Bret Saberhagen was 21, Danny Jackson was 23, and Bud Black and Charlie Leibrandt were the veterans of that rotation, in their age-28 seasons.
"That's the one thing I'm really intrigued about," Gubicza said, "to see how their young pitchers perform in the World Series."
Still, Gubicza sees the Royals prevailing in five games.
"I just don't know if [the Mets] have enough offense to sustain chances to win more than one or two games against the Royals," said Gubicza, who recently finished his ninth season as a color commentator for Angels broadcasts on FOX Sports West. "The Royals' offense, one through nine, is pretty dynamic, deep, does a lot of different things to score runs."
Gubicza also thinks the Royals' bullpen holds an edge, even though closer Greg Holland is unavailable and even though Mets closer Jeurys Familia has excelled. His favorite matchup will be the one between deGrom and Lorenzo Cain. The wild card in this series, Gubicza said, is Kendrys Morales, the former Angels first baseman who drove in 10 runs in the previous 11 postseason games.
Gubicza makes his home in Chatsworth, Calif., and will try to make it to Kauffman Stadium if the Fall Classic extends to a Game 6. He did the same last year.
"And when I did, I saw something that I saw on a pretty consistent basis, at least early in my career, with the fan base," Gubicza said. "They were really into it. I think it's even more so now than they were when we won the World Series in '85 because they were kind of used to winning then."