Morning Marquee: Bumgarner-Shields to open Game 1; No ‘Royals’ in San Francisco

The World Series begins tonight in Kansas City, and the Giants Madison Bumgarner and the Royals James Shields are the perfect pair for the opening act.

Bumgarner is coming off winning the NLCS MVP, and was an 18-game winner for the Giants during the regular season. Even though MadBum’s inning count is high in the playoffs, manager Bruce Bochy was never concerned. Manager Ned Yost and the Royals have an equally impressive arm to open the Series. James Shields, a 14-game winner, had one of the most crucial wins in this postseason run; the wild-card win over the Oakland A’s. That win sparked the 8-0 run the Royals have rode to the World Series.

Two San Francisco radio stations have removed the song ‘Royals’ from their rotation for the duration of the Series. Lourde, the Kiwi songstress who sings it, had just recently met George Brett and realized to correlation. The radio stations made it known it was nothing personal. Kansas City’s 99.7 The Point fired right back. They’ll be playing it once an hour every day for the duration of the World Series.

The Minnesota Twins will interview Paul Molitor a second time as they look to replace longtime skipper Ron Gardenhire. Molitor is far from being a lock, as the Twins are being very thorough in the selection process. The did notify former catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. he was no longer in the running.

Former MLB slugger Chili Davis appears to become the Boston Red Sox new hitting coach. Greg Colbrunn stepped down after suffering a serious health scare earlier this year. He cited spending more time with his family as his reason to not return.

Here’s what you may have missed:

‘Paul Molitor to receive another interview for Twins’ vacancy’ – Call to the Pen

‘Stage set for Bumgarner-Shields in Game 1’ – MLB.com

‘Sources: Chili Davis is Red Sox new hitting coach’ – Bosox Injection

‘San Francisco radio stations won’t play Lorde’s ‘Royals’ during World Series’ – MLB.com

‘Foo Fighters playing Wrigley Field in 2015’ – Cubbies Crib