It is finally World Series time. After a very exciting postseason, the stage is set for an even better finale between two championship-hungry teams. The Mets have not won the World Series since 1986 and the Royals won their first and only franchise title the year before in 1985. It will be an extremely tight, competitive and exciting series. There are lots of cool storylines in this series and many factors that will affect the outcome of the series. But here are some things to look out for:

Kansas City’s pitching: The Royals pitching staff has not been very successful this postseason. Through 11 postseason games, Kansas City’s starters have managed just a 5.56 ERA across 55 innings. They will need to have a solid performance in order to help their team win the series. The Royals pitching staff will need to step up their game especially in order to deal with Met’s postseason star Daniel Murphy: Murphy has almost singlehandedly propelled the Met’s to the World Series. Murphy is on a bit of a streak, having had a hit in each of the five NL division series games, going 7 for 21 with a double, three home runs and five RBIs. Murphy’s stellar play has been making up for weak performances from other Met’s hitters including World Series X-Factor Michael Conforto: The Met’s DH Conforto, is having a bit of a postseason slump, but if he can regain his regular season form, he can help lead the Mets to a championship. Conforto will have plenty to work with as the Royals will likely start all right-handers. This should provide Conforto an opportunity to get some hits near the bottom of the third, likely where he will fall in the batting order: batting order and lineups will be big for this series as it is important for both clubs to get early game leads as well as an early lead in the series. Batting order will be especially important in the matchup between The Royals hitters and the Met’s speedy fastballs: The Met’s pitching staff thrived on its fastballs in earlier playoff games against the Dodgers and the Cubs. Most of the Met’s pitching staff clocks in around the mid to upper 90’s. This makes for an interesting matchup because the Royals have been extremely strong this year hitting the fastball. In all of 2015, Royals hitters ranked first in batting average and second in slugging percentage and had the lowest strikeout rate against 95-plus mph fastballs.

Prediction Time: I am picking the Mets in 6. The Mets will win the first game in Kansas City, drop the second and go on to be 3-0 at home. They’ll win the 5th game, the World Series and the hearts of the people of New York. It will be a tight series, but ultimately the Mets’ solid and prepared pitching staff will dominate the Royals hitters. Mets postseason star Daniel Murphy will continue to be the hero of New York. He will dominate at the plate and continue his home run hit streak well into the World Series. He will get the Mets going, and teammates like Michael Conforto and others will join in the fun to win the World Series. The Royals will fall short because of lackluster pitching in the postseason. Meanwhile, the Mets win their first title in nearly 30 years.