World Series Game One Thread: The Metropolitans of New York versus the Royals of Kansas City

Thanks to the American League All-Star Team, the Kansas City Royals play host to the New York Mets tonight in Game One of the World Series. That the American League All-Star Team was comprised largely of Royals, much to the chagrin of the more shrill and reactionary element of the mainstream media, is especially delightful.

For the second straight year, the long-suffering fanbase of the Royals will potentially see four World Series games at Kauffman Stadium, a fact that would have seemed so bizarre four years ago as to lead to the institutionalization of any one who prognosticated such a future.

The Mets and Royals will send out Matt Harvey and Edinson Volquez, respectively, to try to silence the bats of their opposition.

Though his season has been marred by a few public relations gaffes, it would be hard to argue that Harvey's first season back from Tommy John surgery has been anything but a success on the field. While he may not be able to mount an argument that he is baseball's best pitcher--a point that he could justifiably have made in the days before his UCL gave way--Harvey's 2015 campaign still saw him put up a 2.71 ERA, 3.05 FIP, 3.24 xFIP, 3.23 SIERA, 5.08 K/BB, 4.4 fWAR, and 4.3 rWAR.

Built atop the foundation of a blazing four-seam fastball which he throws roughly half the time, Harvey mixes in equal parts two-seam fastball and slider (about 15% of the time) and then offers a curve and change to flesh out his repertoire.

Volquez will attempt to take care of a Mets' lineup that has been fueled by a possessed Daniel Murphy, of whom anyone paying attention to baseball these last few weeks is well aware. That Murphy isn't nearly as good as his recent hot streak would imply is likely good for the Royals. On the whole, the Mets' offense is likely a little worse than the Royals', but it would be hard to argue that the offense did not take on a different personality when Sandy Alderson traded for Yoenis Cespedes. Volquez will have his hands full, but there are spots in the lineup that are unlikely to present real danger.

The visiting Metropolitans will field the following team:

#WorldSeries Gm 1: @cgrand3 RF #DavidWright 3B Murphy 2B @ynscspds CF Duda 1B D'Arnaud C @mconforto8 LF Flores SS Johnson DH @MattHarvey33 P

— New York Mets (@Mets) October 27, 2015

These will be the hometown Royals:

Here’s how the #Royals line up in #WorldSeries Game 1 tonight at 7pm CT. https://t.co/l4asqSp569 #TakeTheCrown pic.twitter.com/F2CKXhqUYO

— Royals (@Royals) October 27, 2015

This game will be a WAR!