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The Royals and O’s in the ALCS??? with KC halfway to running the table on the whole playoffs – winning 6 straight games – and looking like the reincarnation of the 1927 Yankees?

The Braintrust of the New York Yankees, (and some fans) are happy with a 84 win season – following an 85 win campaign the previous year – to miss the postseason for the 2nd season in a row, but lock the GM for 3 years?&*!@!

The Pirates made a 2nd consecutive playoff spot??  

Jose Altuve and Justin Morneau led their respective leagues in Batting Average??

Okay so it has definitely been a bizarre year in the Majors.  While I am happy to see the game return to more athleticism and talent (not aided by steroids), the game has never been any harder to predict.

As a professional handicapper I realized this much a long time ago about baseball.  You never bet the favorite, and always take the value.

One of my favorite movies of ALL – Time in the this world is a movie called “Let It Ride”.

It stars Richard Dreyfuss going to the track when he learns of an inside job taking place in a horse race.  After he wins that race, and another on insider information he comes up with a great theory.

Like a true theme of opposite (sorry to steal another Seinfeld reference), Dreyfuss goes into the crowd and asks everyone willing to tell him about who is going to win the next race.

There are handicapper’s who study the odds and betting magazines for hours, and inform him of every pick they make.  When he is down to the last horse that no one selects, he places his bets and wins.

This year’s postseason reminds me of that movie and scene.

Being a baseball website, we will always lend analysis, thought-provoking blogs, and this year we have added gambling to the fold.  I won’t go on too much about this as it has all been covered in the last few weeks.

Just remember this offseason, when a team makes a blockbuster signing or 2, and the experts and fanbases proclaim the 2015 season over for a club.. Just like the presumed the Tigers and A’s would be meeting in the league championship this fall. Or the Nationals and Dodgers were the paper champions.

I am convinced we have stumbled on some great new theories about wagering for future years in baseball that we will divulge more as time goes on,

I will leave you with this.  The only money we have all won in is betting over/under’s for the year, the HR Derby, projecting some Division Winners, and then betting on some longshots for the World Series.

The reason we have been able to lock down some picks, is the ability to hedge bets once you are in a position of strength.  This is not always the case when you play the favorites.

When the 2014 World Series concludes, they will post the 2015 World Series within a few days, and the speculation begin.

MLB’s Postseason has been very entertaining so far, and the speed element in the game has me reminiscing about the 1985 – 1993 World Series games, in which that was always a factor in those past playoffs.

100 SB men like Vince Coleman, Rickey Henderson seemed to be in the playoffs every campaign back then.

Kansas City running at will this October is a breath of fresh air in to a stale game.  I love that strategy part of it.  It is always fun to watch how Buck Showalter maneuver’s a game plan to combat it.

Ned Yost‘s squad is playing with a youthful exuberance that is bordering ‘oblivious’ to the fact they are in a serious point in the season.  Their momentum has been building every time they win a close late inning game. Their confidence is growing

Another trend that we are seeing are teams with lockdown Bullpens and contact teams being a nice fit for the Royals.  I believe I heard it on XM Radio, where a broadcast pointed out that very fact.  It is also not foreign.  Contact hitters, who do the little things, and not strikeout a gazillion times in the playoffs have had a great run over the last several years.

The Giants are one of the best clutch hitting baseball teams, who can hit pitchers anywhere pitched to them, with guys like Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey doing a pile of damage.

The NL series is also showing that playoff pedigree matters, in knocking out the Nationals and Dodgers in the LDS Round, despite being the underdog.

Speaking of longshot, have I said already that in the 2 wild card games and Division Series that every higher odd club has won so far?  Even with the LCS that looks to come to fruition as well.

The Royals were slight underdogs to the O’s – and the Giants were a bigger stab to win the NLCS than the Cards.  With Adam Wainwright struggling, and the injury of Yadier Molina, I think that the 2 dogs will sweep this round.

If KC and SF meet in the World Series, it would be one of the most unlikely matchups in Fall Classic History, and pertinent to the Bizarro Season. It would be a perfect ending.

Either San Fran continues the even year Title win, or the Royals become the 1st team to win the World Series in the bottom half of the payroll in quite some time.

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com and their partners***

A Big thanks goes out to our chief writer Hunter Stokes for preparing today’s feature post.

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