Kansas City Royals: What if Royals had cheated in 2014-2015?

Earlier it was discussed that even the Royals base-runners knowing what pitch is being thrown. This also has an impact on the game.

If a runner like Cain knows that a curveball is about to be thrown and the catcher sets up real low, it gives him a clear advantage on the bases. This could have applied in the third inning in the diving stop by Joe Panik off of Hosmer’s bat.

Affedlt picked over to first twice before the pitch that turned into a double play. The pitch was easy to steal meaning that Cain could have been sent. In turn, he doesn’t and Hosmer grounds into the double play. Hosmer ironically went 0 for 4 in Game 7. He had 2 SO and grounded in that double play.

Clearly there should be a tip of the hat because this single play ended the last real chance the Royals had until the ninth inning.  Had Panik not made this diving stop with the glove hand flip, the Royals would have runners at the corner’s with nobody out to start the third inning with nobody up in the Giants bullpen.

Unfortunately this wasn’t the case.

Once Madison Bumgarner came into the game he was placing pitches on both corners of the plate and really only let three pitches get out over the plate that he was able to get away with. The first batter he faced – Infante – had a good at bat and Nori Aoki made solid contact, but stealing signs really wouldn’t have done much from the fifth inning on, especially to the left-handed batters.

With that said, the Royals still would have had the lead and theoretically would have won the game 4 – 3. The question of whether Mike Jirchele should have sent Gordon in the ninth would have never existed since the Royals would have closed out the game with Greg Holland in the visitor’s ninth inning.

There would have been back-to-back World Series victories in Kansas City.