Edinson Volquez Named Game 1 Starter for Royals in 2015 World Series

On Monday, the Kansas City Royals announced their pitching rotation for the World Series, which begins Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium against the New York Mets. 

Playing against a Mets team stacked with young power pitching, Kansas City will counter with veteran Edinson Volquez for Game 1, according to Mike Axisa of CBSSports.com. He'll be matching up against New York's Matt Harvey.    

Volquez went 13-9 this season with a 3.55 ERA in his first year with the Royals. This postseason, though, he hasn't quite been on his game, going 1-2 with an ERA of 4.32.

The Royals will be hoping he can repeat his performance from Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, where he shut out the Toronto Blue Jays over six innings, allowing two hits and striking out five. 

Now that Royals manager Ned Yost released his rotation, here is a look at the probable pitching matchups for the World Series:

New York Mets	Game	Kansas City Royals
Matt Harvey	Game 1	Edinson Volquez
Jacob deGrom	Game 2	Johnny Cueto
Noah Syndergaard	Game 3	Yordano Ventura
Steven Matz	Game 4	Chris Young
TBA	Game 5	TBA
TBA	Game 6	TBA
TBA	Game 7	TBA

It was better late than never for Yost to release his rotation. He even called himself a "punk" on Sunday for not disclosing his arms for the Fall Classic, per David Brown of CBSSports.com. 

Giving Volquez the start for Game 1 gives Johnny Cueto two possible starts at home, one in Game 2 and another in Game 6 if necessary. Cueto's last start on the road was in Toronto during Game 3 of the ALCS, where he allowed eight runs in just two innings before being pulled. 

The Royals' back end of the rotation features a 24-year-old Yordano Ventura, who burst onto the national scene during last year's postseason, and Chris Young, a 36-year-old veteran who is on his third team in four years. They'll have to step up their performances if they want to outduel a New York Mets team that has a 2.81 ERA this postseason. 

If they can't keep up with New York's arms, the Royals are going to be in trouble this World Series. 

Stats courtesy of ESPN.com.