Kansas City Royals vs. San Francisco Giants: In-Depth World Series Breakdown

Oct 15, 2014; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants relief pitcher

(52) pitches during the fourth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals in game four of the 2014 NLCS playoff baseball game at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

San Francisco Giants Bullpen vs. Kansas City Offense

I mentioned earlier how the Royals had trouble with breaking stuff, while being primarily fastball hitters. That’s a problem against a San Francisco Giants pen that is filled with soft-tossing pitchers with good breaking stuff.

About the only reliever on the Giants who regularly throws hard is closer Santiago Casilla, who dials it up at around 94 mph.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy is not as rigid as the Royals Ned Yost with regard to bullpen roles. He’ll use any of his relievers in a particular situation if he feels the matchup is good. However, Casilla took over the closer role in mid-season from 2012 playoff hero Sergio Romo, who moved to setup man. Casilla fashioned a nifty 1.70 ERA with 19 saves this season.

Meanwhile, Romo, ex-Royal Jeremy Affeldt, and Javier Lopez are all battle-tested in San Francisco’s successful 2010 and 2012 Championship runs.

Unlike the Royals, the Giants have excellent LOOGY options in Affedlt (who can also go multiple innings) and Lopez (who is more of a one batter guy). However, these guys rarely break 90 on the radar gun. But, they have excellent command and good breaking stuff to get out hitters.

Where the Giants could have a real edge on Kansas City comes in long relief.

Yusmeiro Petit has been terrific for the Giants in the 2014 playoffs, pitching in 2 games in long relief and logging 9.0 innings while allowing only 2 hits and no earned runs. Though he’s another guy that averaged a mere 88mph on his fastball, he’s also the hero of S.F’s 18-inning marathon win over the Nationals.

Aside from Petit, the Giants also have Tim Lincecum, who has not appeared yet this post-season. However, Lincecum excelled in a relief role for the Giants 2012 World Series run. As a former Cy Young winning starter and experienced player, he certainly could provide multiple quality innings should the need arise.

Finally, the Giants could make up some of the small talent gap with the Royals pen simply by Bochy’s willingness to use his relievers in any situation to get favorable match-ups.