October is not only a time for Halloween, pumpkins, and football, it is also the most anticipated time of the year for baseball fans. It is when the Major League Baseball playoffs take place.

This year, in the National League, the Washington Nationals, the San-Francisco Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the St. Louis Cardinals made the playoffs. In the American League the Baltimore Orioles, the Kansas City Royals, the Detroit Tigers, and the Los Angeles Angles made the playoffs.

In the National League Wild Card game, the Pittsburgh Pirates played the San Francisco Giants and lost 8-0. In the American League, the surprising Kansas City Royals beat the Oakland Athletics after rallying back in 8th and 9th innings. They eventually won in a huge upset! After a series of extremely disappointing seasons, the underdog Royals had a surprisingly pleasant season. This is the first time the Royals have been in the playoffs for 29 years.

In the National League Divisional Series, the St. Louis Cardinals played the Los Angeles Dodgers in an intense four game series. Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers ace, started in game one. Kershaw allowed eight runs in 6 2/3 innings, almost all in the 7th inning. For game four the Dodgers started Clayton Kershaw on only three days rest. At first, Kershaw was pitching well, and the Dodgers jumped ahead with an early 1-0 lead. However, once again the 7th inning became a problem for Kershaw as he allowed a three run home run to Matt Adams. This fueled the Cardinals to win not only the game but also the series. The Giants beat the Nationals in a four game series by relying mostly on their consistent pitching by Madison Baumgarder. With their wins, the Cardinals and the Giants were set to face off in the NLCS.

The American League Divisional Series consisted of the Baltimore Orioles, the Detroit Tigers, The Kansas City Royals, and The Los Angeles Angels. The Royals played the Angels in a quick series in which the Royals won 3 games to 0. The Orioles also swept the Tigers and advanced to the ALCS to play the Royals.

In the ALCS, the Royals beat the Orioles in 4 games and advanced to the World Series. James Shields started for the Royals and was fairly consistent until the 5th inning when the Orioles took advantage of him by scoring 3 runs. The game went into extra innings and the Royals scored three runs in the top of the 10th inning thanks to Alex Gordon’s clutch home run. Later in the inning, Mike Moustakas hit his third home-run of the playoffs to give the Royals a three run lead. This was enough for the Royals to win.
Game 2 was also an action packed game. Both teams’ offense took place in the first half of the game where they each scored 4 runs. However, in the top of the 9th, the Royals came through again and scored two runs in the 9th because of another Mike Moustakas home run. Game three and four were both dominant pitching performances by not only the Royals but also the Orioles. Although, this was not enough for the Orioles to win, and the Royals advanced to the World Series.

The San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals played in the National League Championship series. The Giants won game one with a great pitching performance by Madison Bumgarner who pitched a shutout. The Cardinals won game 2, 4-5 in the bottom of the ninth. The Cardinals had home runs by Matt Carpenter, Oscar Taveras, Matt Adams, and Kolten Wong in the game. In game 3, the Giants took an early 4-0 lead in the first inning. The Cardinals later tied it up and the game went to the 10th inning. In the bottom of the tenth the San Francisco Giants won the game after a walk-off hit! Game 4 was another win for the Giants 4-6. Game 5 was another thrilling game, in which Travis Ishikawa hit a three run home run in the bottom of the 9th to win the game.

The World Series, the most anticipated event in October, is the final series of the playoffs. This year, the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals played each other.

In game 1, the Giants won 7 – 1. This game shaped up to be a dominant pitching performance by Giants’s ace Madison Baumgardner. Game 2 was a victory for the Royals 7-2, which evens the series 1-1. Game 3 was another pitchers duel between Jeremy Guthrie and Tim Hudson; however, the Royals won 3-2 which made the series 2-1.

Game 4 was a primarily offensive matchup, in which the Giants score 11 runs; luckily this was enough to secure the win, which evens the series 2-2. Game 5 was a victory for the Giants, with Madison Baumgardner pitching a shut-out. His E.R.A is .29, which is the lowest postseason E.R.A. ever recorded for a pitcher with over 25-innings pitched. The pressure of being in Kansas City got to Jake Peavy and the Giants; the Royals capitalized on offense as well as pitching by scoring 7 runs in the 2nd inning and, thanks to a fantastic pitching performance by rookie pitcher Yordano Ventura, won the game 10-0.

Finally, the game that all baseball fans hope for, is game 7. Tim Hudson, a 39 year old pitcher who has never played in a World Series despite his long career, started for the Giants, and Jeremy Guthrie, also in his upper thirties, started for the Royals. In the second inning, the Giants jumped ahead to a two run lead, only to be followed by the Royals scoring two runs in the bottom of the second. The game was tied 2-2 until the fourth, where the Giants scored one run in the top of the 4th.

Unluckily for the Royals, the Giants brought in Madison Baumgardner once again for the rest of the game. Neither teams scored, but however, in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Gordon, the tying run, hit a triple. Salvador Perez was up with two outs, and eventually popped-out to end the game. This gave the Giants their third World Series title in the past 5 years, and proved to be an exciting and intense 2014 playoffs; who knows what next season has in store?