Predicting the World Series with Cards - Game 1

As every baseball fan knows, the 2015 World Series kicks off tonight.  The Red Sox didn't even make the playoffs, so I have to confess that I haven't been paying as much attention to post-season baseball this year as I should have been.  With that being said, I'm rooting for the Mets over the Royals.

With the bulk of my collection organized digitally on Zistle, I thought it would be fun to use a random number generator to pick out some cards from each team from my collection.  Here's how it will work...I have 436 Royals cards cataloged in my online collection, and more than that for the Mets.  So, I'll generate three random numbers between 1 and 436.  I'll search my collection of each of the teams on Zistle, show whatever card number comes up for each team at that random number, and decide which one I like better.  Whoever wins best out of three will be my prediction to win the game.

Let's get started!

First up, card #140.  Let's lead off with the Mets...

Wow, what a start here for New York!  This beauty from the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces set pays tribute to the 1969 Miracle Mets team.  Just an awesome card, I can't imagine I have too many Royals cards that I'd like more than this one.  Let's see what Kansas City card rings in at #140 in my collection...

1977 Topps Mark Littell.  Not a whole lot to say here, Littell was done pitching by age 29 thanks to bone spurs, and is probably most remembered for giving up the walk-off home run to Chris Chambliss in the 1976 ALCS.

The first match-up goes to the Mets in a route!  This is a best of three though, so let's see what the next random number brings...

Oddly enough, we're moving just a few numbers down to 134.  Let's start with the Royals this time...

Well this is certainly an improvement over the first card for Kansas City.  Not that this card is anything special, but Hosmer was a huge contributing member to this year's Royals team and figures to be an impact player in the World Series.  I've always enjoyed the design of the 2013 Topps flagship set as well.  Let's see if the Mets can compete here...

Hmm..this 1986 Topps Randy Niemann is nothing too special, but it is from the Topps Traded set so that's something at least.  Randy pitched only 35 games for New York between 1985 and 1986 (all bullpen work save a single start in '86), but he did go on to work for the team in a coaching capacity for many, many years.

It pains me to do so, but I have to give the edge to Hosmer and the Royals here.  Let's do one more round and break the tie!

Number 328, we'll start with the Mets again...

Ouch, tough draw for the Mets in the final round, as Ike Davis was sent to Pittsburgh in 2014 for the dreaded "player to be named later".  The Pirates apparently weren't too impressed either, as the Oakland A's ended up picking up his contract for 2015.  Ike got into around 60 games for the Athletics this year at first base, but swung a rough .229 with just 3 home runs, 20 RBI, and on on-base percentage barely above .300.

Not going to take much to unseat Ike here, let's see what Royals card rings in at #328 in my collection...

We've got a nice portrait from '84 Donruss of catcher Don Slaught!  1984 was Don's final season with Kansas City, and he handled the bulk of the catching duty that season starting over 100 games at the position.  Don enjoyed a better season in 1984 than Ike Davis did in 2011, plus the '84 Donruss set is one of the best of the '80s in my opinion.  On top of that, Don Slaught is just a cooler name (though barely) than Ike Davis.

For those reasons, as much as it pains me to do so, I have to give the third round, and the best of three overall, to the Kansas City Royals.

According to the cards, KC should be up 1-0 after tonight.  I hope this experiment turns out to be inaccurate...