October Confidential: Giants vs. Royals
The Giants will be in Kansas City to face the Royals to begin the World Series on Tuesday on FOX (Air time 7:30 p.m. ET/first pitch 8:07 p.m. ET). The Giants are four wins from their third World Series title in five years, while the Royals -- 8-0 this postseason -- are trying to win it all for the first time since 1985.
What's the best way to beat each of these teams? To find out, we asked players from across their respective divisions to give the inside intel on how these clubs can be beaten. Our sources were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor.
James Shields
"His best pitch is his changeup. He'll throw that at any time in any count. You know he's going to battle. He's not going to give in or groove one over the plate to you. You have to worry about his cutter, his curveball and his changeup, basically. You just have to get him over the plate and get the ball. If you get that curveball or changeup down, you're going to have a tough time."
-- AL Central infielder
Wade Davis
"His main pitch is his cutter right now. He has a good curveball. He'll ride his four-seamer up. So you have to lay off that pitch. You have to look for that cutter early middle-in and you can hit that. But again, you have to make him throw strikes."
-- AL Central infielder
Eric Hosmer
"He's beaten me when I've gone away. He has a long swing, but it's quick. So if you throw a slider, it's got to be down and in front of home plate. He can chase that. You can tie him up early and late inside. He's a guy who maybe you go fastball in and then go slider down in the dirt and hope he swings and it falls off. And then maybe elevate a fastball up and in."
-- AL Central pitcher
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Madison Bumgarner
"He's unique in that his delivery is sort of crossfire, coming across his body. He's able to throw his cutter back across his body that comes in on righties, that's very good. That's hard to pickup as a hitter because he hides it behind his back very well. Anytime you can do that, and also have plus stuff, that makes it tough on hitters."
-- NL West hitter
Hunter Pence
"Hunter is a difficult guy to pitch to. He's a guy who is able to hit bad pitches or what I call pitchers' pitches, pitches you shouldn't be able to drive. He reminds me a little of Vladimir Guerrero. You bounce a ball and he can still dig it out. I've thrown a fastball at his head and he's hit a home run off me. I think he's a guy you just got to execute your pitches and hope he gets himself out."
-- NL West pitcher
Buster Posey
"He's got that catcher's mentality. He'll call the game in his mind as you pitch to him. He's a hard guy to fool because he's thinking along with you as a pitcher. It's key to not get into patterns with him, you've got to mix things up with him, so staying away from any regular patterns is very important."
-- NL West pitcher