The Postseason: Game 1 (KC vs. OAK)

As you should already know, the 2014 MLB Playoffs will commence tonight with the first Wild Card game between the Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals.  This playoff berth for the Kansas City Royals is the organizations first since they won the World Series back in 1985.  Honoring the beginning of the 2014 Postseason, I dedicate this post to analyzing and breaking down tonights game.  However, I would first like to compare the final records for the Athletics, Mariners, and Royals with the projections I made for each during the last stretch of the regular season.

Athletics-  Actual Final Record: 88-74   Projected Final Record: 88-74
Mariners-  Actual Final Record: 87-75   Projected Final Record: 87-75
Royals-  Actual Final Record: 89-73      Projected Final Record: 88-74

As you can see above, my predicted final records for both the A's and the Mariners were spot on, per the statistical projections I made in Updated AL Wild Card Race Scenarios.  The projection I made for the Royals only deviated from the actual record by one game, favoring the Royals.

Now, I will commence with my analysis for the first Wild Card playoff game between Oakland and Kansas City.  During the regular season, the A's and Royals met 7 times, in which the Royals were victorious 5 times.  This gives the Royals a 0.714 winning percentage against the Athletics for the 2014 season (71.4% chance they will win tonight).  Thus, the odds are heavily in favor for the Royals proceeding to the next round.

I will now delve further into the analysis of the game by examining tonights starting pitchers and  offenses for both teams.

Jon Lester- Overall: (16-11, 2.46)  Against the Royals: (3 Starts, 3-0, 2.61)

James Shields- Overall: (14-8, 3.21)  Against the Athletics: (2 Starts, 1-0, 3.21, Kansas City won both games)

KC Team Offense- Overall: (.263, 651 Runs, 4.02 Runs/Game)  Against OAK: (3.43 Runs/Game)

OAK Team Offense- Overall: (.244, 729 Runs, 4.5 Runs/Game)  Against KC: (3.71 Runs/Game, In the 2 Games Won 9.5 Runs/Game, In the 5 Games Lost 1.4 Runs/Game)

As you can discern from the statistics and analysis above, the Royals are favored in terms of overall win percentage between the two clubs, meanwhile the A's have the advantage in terms of their Starting Pitcher and Offense.  Keep in mind that the Athletics scored 19 of their 26 runs against the Royals during the 2 games in which they defeated the Royals.  Considering everything above, I am inclined to pick the Royals as the favorites for winning this game.  This prediction comes after quite the amount of deliberation, however the Royals have proven themselves to be the hotter team right now.