MLB Playoffs 2014: Full Schedule, Updated ALCS and NLCS Series Predictions
No one can accuse this year's Major League Baseball postseason of being boring or lacking storylines. The two League Championship Series are full of intrigue for very different reasons. In a sport where analysis dominates the discussion, it's nice to be reminded of just how random the game is.
On the American League side, we have a battle between the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles. It's been 31 years since the Orioles played in a World Series and 29 years since the Royals were in the Fall Classic. This is uncharted territory for both franchises, so expect the fans in both cities to be at their manic best.
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In the National League, it's basically a repeat of what we've seen for the last four years. The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals have combined to win the last four NL pennants, with three World Series titles in that span.
To whet your appetite for the start of both League Championship Series, we've got a look at the schedules and offer up predictions.
| ALCS Games | Date | Time (ET) | Network |
| Game 1: Kansas City Royals (James Shields) at Baltimore Orioles (TBD) | October 10 | 8 p.m. | TBS |
| Game 2: Kansas City Royals (TBD) at Baltimore Orioles (TBD) | October 11 | 4 p.m. | TBS |
| Game 3: Baltimore Orioles (TBD) at Kansas City Royals (TBD) | October 13 | 8 p.m. | TBS |
| Game 4: Baltimore Orioles (TBD) at Kansas City Royals (TBD) | October 14 | 8 p.m. | TBS |
| *Game 5: Baltimore Orioles (TBD) at Kansas City Royals (TBD) | October 15 | 4 p.m. | TBS |
| *Game 6: Kansas City Royals (TBD) at Baltimore Orioles (TBD) | October 17 | 8 p.m. | TBS |
| *Game 7: Kansas City Royals (TBD) at Baltimore Orioles (TBD) | October 18 | 8 p.m. | TBS |
| NLCS Games | Date | Time (ET) | Network |
| Game 1: San Francisco Giants (TBD) at St. Louis Cardinals (Adam Wainwright) | October 11 | 8 p.m. | Fox |
| Game 2: San Francisco Giants (TBD) at St. Louis Cardinals (TBD) | October 12 | 8 p.m. | Fox Sports 1 |
| Game 3: St. Louis Cardinals (TBD) at San Francisco Giants (TBD) | October 14 | 4 p.m. | Fox Sports 1 |
| Game 4: St. Louis Cardinals (TBD) at San Francisco Giants (TBD) | October 15 | 8 p.m. | Fox Sports 1 |
| *Game 5: St. Louis Cardinals (TBD) at San Francisco Giants (TBD) | October 16 | 8 p.m. | Fox Sports 1 |
| *Game 6: San Francisco Giants (TBD) at St. Louis Cardinals (TBD) | October 18 | 4 p.m. | Fox |
| *Game 7: San Francisco Giants (TBD) at St. Louis Cardinals (TBD) | October 19 | 7:30 p.m. | Fox Sports 1 |
*Indicates If Necessary
Series Predictions
Royals vs. Orioles
Just as everyone predicted before the season, Kansas City and Baltimore are one step away from playing for a World Series. This series is a stark contrast in styles, which would seem to make it harder to predict.
Despite what we saw against Los Angeles in the Division Series, the Royals aren't a team that will hit a lot of home runs. Their lineup depends on making contact and using speed to take an extra base whenever available.
The Orioles offense wants to pound opponents into submission. They hit a lot of home runs and aren't going to win a footrace anytime soon. Here's a side-by-side breakdown of how the ALCS lineups operated during the regular season:
| Royals | Stat | Orioles |
| 95 (30th) | HR | 211 (1st) |
| 410 (23rd) | XBH | 491 (3rd) |
| 153 (1st) | SB | 44 (30th) |
| 985 (30th) | K | 1,285 (11th) |
| 380 (30th) | BB | 401 (26th) |
The lack of power certainly didn't hurt the Royals against the Angels. In fact, you would never know they struggled to hit homers in the regular season based on that series, when they hit four homers in three games. Eventually it's going to come into play, you would think, but what's followed the plan this postseason?
There's not great separation between the two teams on the field. The Orioles hit home runs, but they only scored 54 more runs with those extra 116 homers because they don't get on base at a high rate or run well.
The pitching isn't a separator for either team. The Royals were 11th in starters ERA; Baltimore was 12th. Baltimore's bullpen was sixth in ERA; Kansas City's was 10th. It's maddening to look at how close these teams are, then try to pick a winner.
If there is a mismatch in this series, it's in the dugout, where Buck Showalter is managing on an entirely different planet than Ned Yost. It takes a lot for a manager to earn unanimous praise from around the Internet, yet Showalter is operating on another level than most MLB skippers.
When calling upon Bud Norris for a surprise start in Game 3 of the Division Series against Detroit, Showalter said the stage wouldn't overwhelm the right-hander because it's just part of being a baseball player, via Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com:
"He's one of those guys on game day, when he's pitching, he's not a real pleasant guy to be around," Showalter said. "But he likes to compete. ... I'm not saying this is something new for him being in the playoffs because it's all relative in your life and things that you've had to be competitive at. It's just a different stage."
Managers don't talk like that in the postseason, nor do they make gut calls to put the go-ahead run on base in the ninth inning of a closeout game. Showalter does and watches Zach Britton get a double play to end the series.
On the other side, Yost can't help but get in his own way. He mismanaged the Wild Card Game to the point where the Royals won in spite of his best efforts. Brian Costa of The Wall Street Journal wrote about the stark differences between these two managers with a headline that read "Ned Yost and Buck Showalter: The Dunce and The Chessmaster":
"In Kansas City, Yost has become baseball’s accidental millionaire. His moves have backfired so often that fans have coined a new adjective to describe the Royals when they are doomed by one of them:“Yosted.”
...
Showalter attracts attention for defying convention. During Thursday’s game, Showalter brought in perhaps his best reliever, Andrew Miller, in the sixth inning, ignoring the traditional notion of saving such arms for the later innings. He later used closer Zach Britton in the eighth inning, which managers are typically afraid to do.
"
The playoffs are about adapting to situations instead of holding to conventional norms. Showalter isn't afraid to play chess, while Yost is content to play checkers and hope that everything will work itself out. Expect a lot of close games, but take the team with the better manager.
Orioles win series in six games
Giants vs. Cardinals
There's no mystery between the Giants and Cardinals. Even though the rosters aren't the same since their last NLCS meeting in 2012, many key players (Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Vogelsong, Adam Wainwright, Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina, Lance Lynn) are all back.
The Cardinals were much like the Royals in the regular season, not hitting for a lot of power (105 homers), but turned things on against Los Angeles in the Division Series. They hit seven in four games against the Dodgers, including three against Clayton Kershaw.
The Giants have never been a great offensive team, even in their two World Series runs, and their pitching staff has undergone drastic changes this year with the continued decline of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain being a disappointment before having his season end prematurely.
Yet here we are with the two National League stalwarts fighting for supremacy. Matt Snyder of CBS Sports highlighted some of what makes the Giants and Cardinals so similar heading into this series:
"Each team has plenty of time to set its rotation how it wants with Shelby Miller and Ryan Vogelsong each being the most recent starting pitcher used and also now having three full off days. That means we can expect a beauty of a pitching matchup in Game 1, when Adam Wainwright takes on Madison Bumgarner.
...
No player in the series had more than 22 regular-season homers and the Cardinals were last in the NL in home runs. There are, however, plenty of players capable of going yard at any given moment and both teams came through with timely homers to get to this point.
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Again we are left to wonder how a series with two teams that look so evenly matched on paper will play out. There's no real separation between Adam Wainwright and Madison Bumgarner on the mound, yet we've seen the Cardinals light up Kershaw.
The Giants didn't do much on offense against the Nationals, but Buster Posey hit .389, and Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt each hit .278. Their best hitters were doing enough to get runs on the board and give the pitching staff a chance to win.
When looking at the strengths and weaknesses of these teams, the Cardinals get a slight edge because they have a deeper lineup and starting rotation. Wainwright and Bumgarner is a wash, as is Lance Lynn and Jake Peavy. It comes down to John Lackey and Shelby Miller against Tim Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong, which favors St. Louis.
Cardinals win in six games
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