World Series preview: To cheer or not to cheer? That is the question

Paul Freelend breaks down the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals ahead of Tuesday's Game 1.

Lorenzo Cain of the Kansas City Royals hits a double in the first inning during Game Two of the American League Championship Series at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on October 11, 2014 in Baltimore, Maryland. Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesShow less

Cheer for the Giants

• Respect success Love them or hate them, the Giants are the closest thing Major League Baseball has to a dynasty.

Beating the Royals would make San Francisco the first National League team to win three World Series in a five-year span since the St Louis Cardinals in the 1940s.

The fact they missed the play-offs in the intervening odd-numbered years is the only thing keeping San Francisco from true dynasty status.

• Real baseball They represent the National League and, by extension, how baseball was meant to be played.

None of this designated hitter tomfoolery; everyone plays in the field, everyone hits.

• No-name team Catcher Buster Posey, left, is the only real star on the Giants. The rest of the team is made up largely of journeymen, role players and guys in whom other teams found little value.

There is definite value in a team built around home-grown talent rather than expensive free agents acquired at the cost of emptying the farm system.

Cheer against the Giants

• Old hat Three World Series appearances in five years is enough to begin wearing out the welcome of even the most loveable teams.

The Giants have 20 all-time World Series appearances, one more than St Louis and second only to the New York Yankees (40).

• Earned it? San Francisco appear to be the epitome of the team who does just enough to make the play-offs before playing their best when it ­matters.

They are an 88-win team who needed the second wild card to make the post-season. Supporting the Giants means supporting not just the wild card, but the second wild card.

• Giants fans Not to engage in stereotypes, but by all reports the majority of Giants fans are, shall we say, less than hard core.

There are old-timers who used to freeze at Candlestick Park, but many joined the bandwagon during the Barry Bonds years, left, then got back on the bandwagon around 2011. If you want to associate with that type of person, go ahead.

Cheer for the Royals

• Overdue Kansas City’s success came out of nowhere and they are on the cusp of ending 29 years of futility.

Royals fans have suffered through some truly diabolical baseball in the interim and, compared to a Giants side vying for their third World Series title in five years, it is difficult to begrudge them their moment in the spotlight.

• Small ball For an American League team, the Royals play a very National League brand of baseball.

Their stellar defence alone deserves the reward of a World Series victory and their willingness to bunt, steal and grind out runs makes for compelling viewing.

• Steady hand It took a while, but general manager Dayton Moore has found the right mix.

The Royals took Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer – their offensive core – with high draft picks in the mid-2000s, and smart choices lower in the draft and in trades have paid big dividends. Credit Moore for his patience and wisdom in sculpting this team.

Cheer against the Royals

• Ned Yost Kansas City’s manager is something of an enigma. His career record (745 wins, 835 losses) is unimpressive and he has been described as, at best, tactically deficient.

Yet here he is, sitting four wins away from a World Series title. How rewarding is it to watch someone succeed simply by getting out of the way?

• Please stop Royals fans have taken to singing Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ during games. As if the Boston Red Sox had not run that song into the ground in 2004, Detroit Tigers fans took up the song during the 2012 World Series – and promptly saw their team swept by San Francisco. Can they at least find something else from Journey’s back catalogue?

• Too smart A Kansas City victory will unleash a deluge of articles from the pundit class on how the Royals are the future of baseball and how everyone should follow their lead, ignoring the fact that this is an 89-win team the Oakland Athletics should have sent home in the wild-card round.

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