Showdown Cup Finals Series Preview

Showdown Cup Finals Preview

Here is the preview for the finals of the Showdown Cup. The 2016 Chicago Cubs will be taking on the 2015 Kansas City Royals. I will be breaking down the match ups in this series and look at the ways each team may have an advantage.  Here are the Statistics for both teams throughout the tournament so far. 

2015 Kansas City Royals Stats - Hitting
NAME	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
Alcides Escobar	85	3	17	1	0	0	5	3	23	6		.200	.227
Ben Zobrist	79	8	19	3	0	3	4	6	17	3		.241	.294
Lorenzo Cain	76	10	19	9	2	1	8	5	19	7		.250	.296
Eric Hosmer	76	12	24	4	1	5	15	4	21	1		.316	.350
Kendrys Morales	69	11	27	10	0	4	12	9	17	0		.391	.462
Mike Moustakas	69	3	16	6	0	1	4	7	24	0		.232	.303
Salvador Perez	70	6	15	3	0	0	3	5	18	1		.214	.267
Alex Gordon	62	5	17	4	0	2	13	12	13	3		.274	.392
Alex Rios	69	3	13	2	0	0	1	3	23	5		.188	.222
Totals	655	61	167	42	3	16	65	54	175	26		.255	.312

Offense: The Royals played three more games than the Cubs and had plenty of extra innings games and it shows in more plate appearances and stats.  The Royals line up strength is found between Eric Hosmer and Kendrys Morales as main hitting threats and then in the 8th slot Alex Gordon gave them their third double digit RBI man. The hard part for this offense is a 5 on base lead off hitter and a 5 on base number 9 hitter so when the order comes around for a second time it can be easy pickings for the high controlled Cubs rotation.  For the Royals to be succesful from an offensive standpoint they need better hitting from Ben Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain to give Hosmer and Morales more opportunities to drive in runs.

2016 Chicago Cubs Stats - Hitting
NAME	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG
Dexter Fowler	63	10	22	7	2	0	6	11	17	6		.349	.446
Kris Bryant	66	8	15	3	0	3	8	6	21	3		.227	.292
Anthony Rizzo	61	10	23	8	2	3	17	11	20	0		.377	.472
Ben Zobrist	64	3	15	3	1	1	5	7	17	1		.234	.310
Wilson Contreras	61	4	15	3	0	1	4	7	14	0		.246	.324
Jorge Soler	60	5	8	3	0	3	6	7	23	0		.133	.224
Addison Russell	56	8	11	3	0	2	3	7	16	6		.196	.286
Jayson Heyward	56	4	15	5	0	0	9	5	17	1		.268	.328
Javy Baez	55	9	16	7	0	1	3	4	13	4		.291	.339
Totals	542	61	140	42	5	14	61	65	158	21		.258	.338

Offense: This Cubs lineup is packed with firepower at the top 4 of the order. Kansas City could benefit from a reshuffle in the batting order using their top hitters at the top of the order. Anthony Rizzo has been their offensive MVP so far leading the team or tied for in basically every statistical category. Kris Bryant will be looked to for more offense which he provided in the last round, hoping he can stay hot for a Cubs win. The weakness of the order is the bottom half, while they have been getting some timely hitting to push runs across, this is the area where the Royals have to get them out to have a chance at winning the series.

2015 Kansas City Royals Stats - Pitching
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	QS	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	ERA
Johnny Cueto			2	3	0			46	52	19	3	19	50	1.54	3.72
Edison Volquez			5	0	0			45.1	43	9	2	25	44	1.51	1.80
Yordano Ventura			2	1	0			25	30	14	2	12	33	1.68	5.04
Danny Duffy			1	2	0			12.1	16	6	1	1	8	1.40	4.46
Greg Holland			1	0	6			10	6	3	2	2	10	0.80	2.70
Wade Davis			1	1	0			14.1	4	2	1	2	19	0.43	1.28
Kevin Herrera			0	0	0			9	3	1	0	2	10	0.56	1.00
Ryan Madson			0	0	1			9.2	1	0	0	1	15	0.22	0.00
Totals			12	7	7			171.2	155	54	11	64	189	1.28	2.85

Pitching for the Royals has been for the most part a success in the tournament. When the playoffs began and we moved to 3 starter rotations they moved their number 3 starter to the bullpen for better relief opportunities that really never came with the great bullpen they had. It could ahve hurt them but in the last series game 6 they put Danny Duffy back in the bullpen and started Yordano Ventura facing elimination and it proved to be the right move. Duffy is now their fifth arm in the bullpen. Edison Volquez may be the surprise of the tournament posting a 5-0 record in some big wins for the Royals, he will see the hill ing game 2. The bullpen isn't playing around either only one loss from the bullpen in the tournament round robin stage and since then they are dominating once they get brought it. A bullpen ERA of 1.25 lets opposing teams know it will be tough getting to them once they take over the game. If the starters can go 6 strong innings with a lead, tied or within 1 theres a good chance for the Royals to win some games in this series.

2016 Chicago Cubs Stats - Pitching
NAME	GP	GS	W	L	SV	QS	HLD	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	WHIP	ERA
Jon Lester			4	1	0			40	17	3	1	22	50	0.97	0.68
Jake Arrieta			3	0	0			34.1	27	7	2	4	46	0.91	1.85
Kyle Hendricks			3	2	0			37.2	19	11	3	24	55	1.16	2.66
John Lackey			1	0	0			9	12	2	0	4	15	1.78	2.00
Aroldis Chapman			0	0	7			6.2	2	0	0	0	12	0.32	0.00
Hector Rondon			0	0	0			8	3	1	0	3	17	0.75	1.13
Mike Montgomery			2	0	0			10.1	13	3	0	3	12	1.58	2.67
Travis Wood			0	0	0			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Totals			13	3	7			144.6	93	27	6	60	207	1.06	1.68

The Cubs come into this series a heavy favorite and their starting pitching is a good reason for it. Jon Lester leads the way with a 4-1 record and a combined 1.65 ERA+WHIP while no starter for the Royals even has an ERA that low. Jake Arrieta comes next with a 3-0 record with the lowest WHIP of all the starters remaining in the tournament. Third will be Kyle Hendricks who leads all the player left in the tournament in strike outs. That is what the Royals get to look forward to in the championship round. John Lackey moved to the bullpen and hasn't even been used along with Travis Wood whom has not even pitched in the tournamnet. The starters are going 7-8 innings a game if not the whole game leaving the bullpen with very few opportunities to pitch. They make the most out of it though as Aroldis Chapman comes into the Championship with 7 saves in only 6.2 inning pitched not allowing and runs. This bullpen has a combined 1.44 ERA so much like the Royals they have done their job. Which bullpen will be able to finish off the games to lead their team to victory?

The Cubs will have home field advantage in the series due to their better winning percentage and I have to say I am excited for this series. I think the advantage goes to the Cubs based on their track record going 13-3 so far in the tournament. Batting wise I believe they have the high powered offense, with an ability to generate more runs that is a big advantage and the bat of Anthony Rizzo will be a key factor. If Kris Bryant continues to improve this could be a 5 game series. The speed and fielding advantages feels like they lean more towards the Royals with the ability to run on their catcher is essentially impossible. A +10 for Salvador Perez defense is saying you really need a speed A to even have a chance. Speed B can at times steal some bases on the lower charted catchers but a 25% success rate for speed B is tough and can end innings early with stolen base attempts. 

When it comes to the starting pitching i believe the advantage also goes to the Cubs. The best starters in the tournament in the statistical categories even though they haven't had as many opportunities as the Royals staff lets you know they can easily dominate a series if the dice is in their favor. This is not to sell the Royals staff short because with some momentum they can also shut down opposing offenses. When it comes down to the bullpens as a whole the Royals look to be the better of the two. The higher usage and lower ERA as a bullpen staff lets you know that whomever it is that takes the field you have to work for a run or a hit. With the Cubs not using Travis Wood the entire tournament how will he do if he gets thrown into the fire late in the series? We know Aroldis Chapman will bring the heat and the rest of the bullpen will hold their own so a slight edge to the Royals. 

In conclusion I think we are looking at an exciting series that has the potential to play out many story lines, will the dominant Cubs continue to dominate and end the series in 4-5 games? Will this scrappy Royals team fight for their lives but come up just short losing in 6-7. Will the Royals shock the world and end the Cubs dominance in 4-5 games? What if the Royals do what they have done this entire tournament and pull out late game victories and take the cup in 6-7? All I know is we have the Juggernaut and we have Cinderella set to do battle over the next week to determine our very first Showdown Cup Champion.

My Prediction? Cubs in 6

My Hope? Royals in 4 or 7