3. Keep the errors to a minimum
The Royals are a small ball team, they win mostly with speed, defense, and match-ups. Obviously it’s tough to be perfect but the Mets have to keep it relatively clean on the field, because if the slightest crack appears the Royals will exploit it and proceed to hang a couple runs on the board. The Mets don’t have to do anything spectacular; they just need to use common sense and practice what they’ve been taught since they were kids, i.e. calling for fly balls, keeping the ball in front of you, and making strong throws. If the Mets let plays like the following happen, they will quickly find themselves giving up runs when they should have never been in that situation in the first place.
Although this play against the Cubs did not result in any runs being scored, the inning should have been over on that fly ball, and a team like the Royals will gladly take the free bases and quickly make the Mets regret their mistake. As long as the Mets don’t give away free bases they will have less bodies on the field to worry about.
Three keys: pitch well, hit well, field well. Damn, what a concept.