World Series 2014: Keys to Victory in Giants vs. Royals Fall Classic

Every championship team has some sort of identity. Maybe it's the comeback kid. Maybe it won with dominant pitching or consistent hitting. Maybe it's a team of unlikely heroes and role players stepping up at the most crucial times. 

But every great team has its identity, and the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals are no exception. So what are the keys to victory and major advantages each team holds in the 2014 World Series?

Let's break it down.
 

Royals: Don't Stray From The Formula

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Lorde's team has reached the World Series by pressing the issue on the basepaths, playing excellent defense, receiving timely hitting and shutting its opponents down in the later innings with the back end of its bullpen. 

It's a formula that the baseball gods have smiled upon favorably, and the Royals have yet to lose a postseason game. Now is not the moment to flip the script. 

Quite the opposite. This might be the first series the Royals don't really hold a late-game advantage in the bullpen, at least if this stat from the MLB on Twitter continues in the World Series:

The Royals seem unlikely to blow the Giants out of any games. Continuing to do the little things well, however, will keep the baseball gods in their corner. 

Giants: Experience, Experience, Experience

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A lack of postseason experience for many of the Royals hasn't affected them to this point. But they also haven't faced a team like the Giants yet. 

The Giants have won two of the last four World Series titles. They've reached the Fall Classic in three of the past five years. They've been here, they've done that.

Ryan Hood of MLB.com asked Jeremy Affeldt what made the bullpen quartet of he, Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo—each with the team for both World Series titles and each major contributors to those conquests—so effective in the postseason. His answer could apply to the team as a whole.

"Experience is a big deal," Affeldt said. "We don't live in the past, but we rely on the past to get us through situations that we know we can pull through."

Pablo Sandoval? He was the 2012 World Series MVP. Buster Posey? He has a career .331 OBP in postseason baseball with four home runs and 19 RBI. Madison Bumgarner? He's 2-0 in two World Series starts with 14 strikeouts in 15 innings pitched. He's yet to give up a run in the Fall Classic and has a 0.600 WHIP.

That's no fluke—in four starts and 31.2 innings pitched this postseason, he's allowed just six runs while striking out 28. 

The point is simple—the Giants have players who have done this before. The stage won't be too big for them, the pressure will never feel too great. The Royals may seemingly have the baseball gods in their camp this postseason, but the Giants have conquered the gods twice in the past four years.

Royals: Follow the Stars

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Many of the players who form the core of this Kansas City lineup—and the players who were lauded as prospects for years—have been the players leading the way in the postseason.

Player	H	BA	OBP	R	HR	RBI	SB
Eric Hosmer	13	.448	.556	5	2	8	0
Lorenzo Cain	12	.353	.378	9	0	4	2
Mike Moustakas	7	.241	.267	6	4	5	0
Alex Gordon	6	.222	.400	3	1	9	3

Longtime Kansas City Star reporter Joe Posnanski wrote a special piece for his former paper and talked about the core of this team and what it's been accomplishing:

"

Lorenzo Cain is an outfield virtuoso. I remember when Alex Gordon was hitting .180 as a hyped rookie and there was a real question about where his career would lead; he’s now the very heart of this team. And that three-man reliever party — a trio I’ve begun to call the law firm of Herrera, Davis and Holland — is simply the most dominant closing machine in the history of baseball.

One of sports’ grand cliches is 'Stay within yourself.' This Royals team does that about as well as any team I can remember.

"

Indeed the Royals do. Very often in the postseason, heroes emerge from the unlikeliest of places. This postseason for the Royals, the heroes have emerged from a likelier place—their stars. In many ways, it's about time. We've been told for years about the young talent the Royals had in the farm system or the prospects who were finally going to change things for the organization.

Finally, they've lived up to the hype. And now, they're four wins away from doing much more than that. If the stars stay hot, the Royals are going to be very hard to beat.

Giants: Keeping Balance and Flexibility

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The Royals need to do three things to win—they need to force the issue on the basepaths, they need to play excellent defense and they need to either have the lead or be in a close game after six innings. 

The Giants, on the other hand, have the sort of balance and flexibility that they can utilize to gain an advantage. 

Six players hit double-digit home runs this season for San Francisco. Bumgarner is the star of the show, but the Giants have very solid starting pitching and an even better bullpen. The Giants can run to force the issue like the Royals, or they can play the power game. 

Flexible teams can make adjustments. They can alter their strategy to take away an opponent's strengths or to emphasize their own. They are the types of teams that inspire phrases like, "You know, they just always seem to find a way to win."

The Giants' experience will likely be touted as their major advantage in this series. Perhaps. But underestimate their balance and flexibility at your own peril.