World Series 2014 Schedule: TV Info, Live Stream and MLB Championship Prediction

Baseball's grandest stage is set, and the 2014 World Series promises to deliver plenty of compelling action between the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants. Neither of these teams were really expected to get this far, making the year's final series all the more enticing.

The Royals are on a tremendous hot streak right now, winning all eight of their playoff contests. However, the Giants are riding some nice momentum of their own after defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in three consecutive contests (and five games overall) to earn a berth in the World Series.

While we await the beginning of this epic clash, we can begin to speculate about the outcome of the series. But before we get into that, let's first take a look at the full schedule to ensure not a moment of enthralling action is missed.

Game	Date	Matchup	Time (ET)	Channel
1	Tue., Oct. 21	Giants at Royals	8 p.m.	Fox
2	Wed., Oct. 22	Giants at Royals	8 p.m.	Fox
3	Fri., Oct. 24	Royals at Giants	8 p.m.	Fox
4	Sat., Oct. 25	Royals at Giants	8 p.m.	Fox
5*	Sun., Oct. 26	Royals at Giants	8 p.m.	Fox
6*	Tue., Oct. 28	Giants at Royals	8 p.m.	Fox
7*	Wed., Oct. 29	Giants at Royals	8 p.m.	Fox

Live Stream: MLB.tv (requires subscription)

*denotes "if necessary" games

Preview and Prediction

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

The Royals enter the World Series as arguably the best-hitting team in the playoffs. A team batting average of .259 was second to only the Los Angeles Dodgers out of all teams playing multiple playoff games. Kansas City's lineup is full of hitters who can provide quality at-bats and rack up pitch counts quickly.

This team has also found a good deal of power in October, hitting eight home runs in as many games. While the Giants certainly have talented hitters of their own, the Royals have a slight upper hand in this department in terms of efficiency at the plate.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of both offenses in the postseason:

Team	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Giants	361	41	88	12	1	5	37	.244	.313	.324	.638
Royals	282	42	73	11	1	8	40	.259	.331	.390	.721

While the Royals appear to have a slight advantage at the plate, the Giants have a talented pitching staff capable of evening the odds.

Starting with Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco's rotation has the ability to give Kansas City's lineup some issues. Bumgarner has been electric in the playoffs to this point. He's appeared in four games, pitching 31.2 innings, allowing 19 hits and five earned runs while walking five and striking out 28 en route to a 2-1 record and 1.42 ERA.

This is nothing new for the southpaw, as Richard Justice of MLB.com tweeted the pitcher's career postseason numbers:

The team's bullpen has been lights out during the playoffs. Long reliever Yusmeiro Petit, Jeremy Affeldt and closer Santiago Casilla have combined for 21 scoreless innings through eight postseason games and have been pivotal parts of the team's success.

ESPN's Dan Shulman tweeted the impressive streaks from these relievers:

While the Royals starting rotation hasn't been quite as solid during the playoffs, the team's relievers have been fantastic. Wade Davis has been an absolute monster on the mound, Kelvin Herrera has been equally as dangerous, and closer Greg Holland has been clutch, accumulating six saves.

Still, a side-by-side comparison favors the Giants:

Team	GP	IP	W	L	ER	R	BB	SO	BAA	ERA
Giants	10	99	8	2	24	25	26	81	.192	2.18
Royals	8	80	8	0	26	26	28	69	.210	2.93

These comparisons only lead to one conclusion: We're in for a very hard-fought World Series. We should expect each game to remain close, and there's a good chance we may be given the privilege of witnessing a thrilling Game 7.

The difference-maker in this series could turn out to be the Giants' ability to get to the Royals starting pitchers early. If this is the case, Kansas City's bullpen will be utilized more frequently than anticipated, leading to unavailable pitchers when they're needed in crucial situations.

There's no reason to think this one won't come down to the wire, so expect this year's World Series to go the distance.

Prediction: Giants in seven