MLB: WORLD SERIES, THEN & NOW // NFL: WEEK 7; BRONCOS, 49ers.

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner.  MLB---ON Tuesday next, October 21, the first of two MLB World Series games will occur at Kansas City, the American League-Central’s K.C. ROYALS vs. the National League West’s S.F. GIANTS, the ROYALS now the AL championship team off of a 4-0 takeaway from the AL East’s Baltimore Orioles, the GIANTS NL leaders from a 4-1 hold tugged from the NL Central’s St. Louis Cardinals. It will be the 110th WS since 1903, when Boston topped Pittsburgh, with all WS wins from then until now shared by more than 20 of today’s 30 MLB clubs, a lion’s share of that by less than a dozen multiple WS winning teams, e.g., the N.Y. Yankees ahead of that pack with more than 20 WS wins starting 1923. Another multiple winning team, the Boston Red Sox, they were last year’s WS winner, having defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-2, but this year the AL East’s Boston Red Sox finished MLB regulation nowhere near playoff consideration---division last place, reminding that since year 2000 no WS winning team has won the WS back-to-back, nor has any MLB club made it to the WS to lose consecutively since year 2000, although the N.Y. Yankees have had four appearances starting that year, winning the WS from the N.Y. Mets, losing to the Arizona Diamondbacks, 2001, losing to the Florida Marlins, 2003, becoming WS winner again versus the Philadelphia Phillies, 2009. The Red Sox can boast of three WS appearances during the 2000-2014 period, a victory each WS visit---2004 against the Cardinals, 2007 vs. the Colorado Rockies, 2013 vs. the Cards. Well, NL fans, the GIANTS have also been to the WS three times since 2000, losing to the L.A. Angels, 2002, defeating the Texas Rangers, 2009, winning vs. the Detroit Tigers, 2012. But---the ROYALS haven’t been to a WS since winning the WS against the Cardinals, 4-3, almost 30 years ago, 1985. The ROYALS only other WS appearance was before that, 1980, losing to the Phillies, 4-2. Of relative interest here, though vaguely, is this: Before the Red Sox got to take the WS away from the Cards in 2004, they hadn’t been to a WS since 1986, when it lost to the NL’s N.Y. Mets. Boston’s 2004 WS crown emerged from a sweep, 4-0 vs. the Cards, and then Boston’s WS crown in 2007 also came from a 4-0 sweep, this vs. the Rockies. Remarkably, to get to the WS this year, the AL’s ROYALS just swept the Orioles, 4-0. Can the ROYALS do that to the GIANTS and take the WS crown? That will be a ROYALS goal, of course, and a 4-3 taken from the GIANTS will still deliver satisfaction. If we judge and pick from their 2014 regular season records, however, the WS will surely be of close matches and could go to seven games, one or more of these to extra innings. Throughout much of the 2014 regular season, and toward its end especially, each team held second place often enough within their respective divisions to rate playoff candidacy, usually the ROYALS and GIANTS two wins apart from one another, each finishing the season close enough to a desired 90 wins. During the MLB-2014 LC matches, we saw similar ways and means toward the ROYALS 4-0 win and the GIANTS 4-1 grab, for the most part starting pitchers keeping ERA’s low and bull pens sustaining that, with just enough hitters finding the right pitch for on-base positioning becoming RBI’s, and from what seems like the baseball gods raining luck, for instance, last night’s GIANTS walk-off 3-run HR by Travis Ishikawa when a Cards reliever delivered a hittable fast ball after having walked a GIANTS hitter from only four pitches, Ishikawa’s HR becoming the GIANTS 6-3 win and its WS slot. The 4-0 WS sweep that the ROYALS have shown capacity for isn’t uncommon, it’s happened six times in the past 20 years, shared by four clubs, the Yankees, Red Sox, the Cards, and the Chicago White Sox vs. Houston Astros, 2005, the last 4-0 sweep being Cards vs. Tigers, 2012. So, how important is this with regard to a ROYALS/GIANTS WS? While the Royals put up 19 runs during the team’s 4-0 sweep of the Orioles, the Giants delivered 25 runs within the club’s 4-1 victory over the Cards. It’s about the runs, right? At first blush, it looks like the GIANTS may be the stronger but not necessarily. Although two of the Royals vs. Orioles wins were by only one run, two by two runs, the GIANTS wins were nearly identical in that the team’s wins were also by one, two and three runs. Yes, the GIANTS lost one of MLB-2014’s five NL-LC games, but by only one run to the Cards. Again, the arrow points to a close and maybe seven game 2014 WS.  .  .  NFL---OF the eight NFL division leading franchises, two that are of four wins as Week 7 approaches have at their heels second place teams that also have four wins to date, the NC West’s 4-1 Arizona Cardinals above the 4-2 S.F. 49ers, and the NC North’s 4-2 Detroit Lions atop the 4-2 Green Bay Packers. Another franchise that has four wins is chased by a second place team with three wins, the AC South’s 4-2 Indianapolis Colts being ahead of second place AC South team, the 3-3 Houston Texans. Meanwhile, being of the three division leading teams that have five wins and a loss the AC East’s 5-1 Philadelphia Eagles can feel the shoulders of a second place 5-1 team, the AC East’s Dallas Cowboys, the two safe for now in that the division’s third place N.Y. Giants are 3-3 and the division’s last place team, the Washington Redskins, are 1-5. Except for the now 5-2 N.E. Patriots, which inaugurated Week 7 last night with a 27-25 win versus the now 1-6 N.Y. Jets , gaining a two game lead over second place team, the 3-3 Buffalo Bills, the remaining division leading franchises are also in tenuous positions, their division second placers just one win behind them, e.g., the AC West’s S.D. Chargers being just one win up on second place team, the 4-1 Denver Broncos, while the AC North’s 3-1 Cincinnati Bengals are only ahead of the 4-2 Baltimore Ravens from four games played to date vs. the six games played by the Ravens. Within the NC South, the 3-2 Carolina Panthers are leading, second place team the 2-3 New Orleans Saints.  Presently, no NFL-2014 team is without a loss, six having lost but one game since the season began. And, only one team is without a victory after six weeks of regulation, the AC South’s 0-6 Jacksonville Jaguars.  .   . BRONCOS, 49ers---THE 4-2 49ers will be facing the 4-1 Broncos during Week 7 from three consecutive wins (NFL Weeks 4 thru 6) , keeping two opposing teams to fewer than 20 points, a third to 21 in the toughest of the three wins, this latter game vs. the now 5-1 Philadelphia Eagles. In those three games, the 49ers accrued a total of 79 points, best a 31-17 win vs. the St. Louis Rams (Week 6), but they gave away a total of 113 points to opposing teams. The Broncos will be challenged by the 49ers on Sunday, having won two of its last three games, giving away no more than 26 points in any of its last three contests, which included a loss to the Seattle Seahawks (Week 30, final: 26-20), total number of points allowed by the Broncos defense to opposing teams since Week 1 being 104, while the Broncos offense accumulated a total of 147 points within one less game played than the 49ers have played. These numbers suggest a Broncos advantage for a win from Sunday’s Week 7 match. Add that as of today three of the Broncos receivers have delivered for 15 TD’s across five games, the 49ers gaining 10 TDs from six receivers over six games. Total number of passing yards gained by the Broncos since Week 1, that’s 1,530, vs.1,456 gained by the 49ers. The Broncos defense has shown greater skill, timing and strength in narrowing a QB’s options and forcing a running game, which is more easily exploited by any defense. Ironically, what might seem to be the best way to stop a Broncos offense would be to force QB Peyton Manning to run the ball instead of throwing for that first down or TD, a difference is that with Broncos RB’s Ronnie Hillman and Juwan Thompson the Manning attack stays valid, Sunday last the Broncos rushing successfully against the N.Y. Jets for 138 yards and contributing to the Broncos total number of first downs, 21. Not that the 49ers will be pushover dullards and an easy victory for the Broncos. The Jets were supposed to be super-humiliated by the Broncos during Week Six, and that didn’t happen, though the Broncos defeated the Jets, 31-17. The 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick has completed 119 of 186 throws since Week 1, and he has a broader set of receiver options than QB Manning has, though inconsistent in this matter as Kaepernick hasn’t the skill for eye-through-the needle passing game-after-game, not like Peyton Manning or N.E. Patriots QB, Tom Brady, Manning having that fine-tuned with WR Julius Thomas receiving for four TD’s to date, WR Demaryius Thomas for nine. The most TD’s for any 49er receiver this year is three. Our take, the Broncos will defeat the 49ers on Sunday but not with great ease. END/ml