There are only so many worthwhile takeaways to be gleaned from an examination of the Kansas City Royals' incredible postseason run up to this point. It's just been one of those miraculous stretches of baseball where everything has kept on clicking. (At least until Game 1 of the World Series.)
It is possible that the impact of Kansas City's speed, fundamentals, and maybe even defense, can be overstated.
The impact of a lights-out bullpen, however, cannot.

During the regular season, the Royals went 64-9 when ahead after the sixth inning, and 65-4 when ahead after the seventh. This relief corps that reliably protected leads during the summer has stepped it up here in October.
When Kansas City leads after five, or gains a lead at any point thereafter, the win has been automatic.
This was an overlooked calling card in the Twins' wonder years. During Minnesota's division championship seasons of 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2010, they ranked 4th, 5th, 5th, 1st, 4th and 4th among AL teams in bullpen ERA.
This year, they ranked 10th.
So when you look at areas that need to improve, this is a pretty blatant one. A truly great bullpen can be a key difference-maker; many of those division-winning clubs lacked elite lineups or rotations but won games because they consistently could finish the job.
Fortunately, the current Twins already have that all-important piece: a shutdown closer. Like Eddie Guardado and Joe Nathan before him, Glen Perkins is an All-Star, ranking among the game's best at slamming the door.
Concerns over Perkins' sore forearm and shaky September were quelled after an MRI revealed no UCL damage.
But what of the arms leading up to Perkins? Where are those dominant arms that bridge the gap, like Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera have done for the Royals?
Casey Fien was far less dominant this year than in 2013, as his strikeouts declined and more hits fell in. Jared Burton struggled too often, and seems unlikely to have his option activated. When minor-leaguers like Michael Tonkin, A.J. Achter and Lester Oliveros got their chances, they delivered mixed results.
If the Twins want to be proactive in addressing the bullpen, they might want to seek alternatives to their present options. That could mean looking to free agency, where some intriguing names are covered in the Offseason Handbook.
But it also might mean getting creative and trying out some different things. One such idea is shifting Mike Pelfrey into a relief role, where I believe he could transform from a liability to an asset.
And here's another idea I'm starting to like: Alex Meyer in the bullpen to start the season.
He already has a full year at Triple-A under his belt and he'll turn 25 in January. He needs to be in the majors. But the Twins seem to have lingering doubts about his ability to pitch deep into games, and that's warranted. He completed six innings just once in his last seven starts at Rochester.
There might not be room for him in the rotation from the outset, if the Twins sign a pitcher or want to give Tommy Milone a look.
So why not let Meyer start out in a relief role, where he can gain confidence pitching in short stints while blowing big-league hitters away with his elite stuff?
The Twins brought Francisco Liriano along in this manner in 2006. He dominated pitching a couple innings at a time as a potent weapon out of the bullpen during the first six weeks, and was already rolling by the time he hit the rotation in mid-May.
Since Meyer only pitched 130 innings last year and ended on an injury scare, the Twins will want to manage his workload. Serving as a reliever those first few weeks or months will allow him to pitch deeper into the season without vastly exceeding his inning total from 2014.
Ideally, he'll pitch well in this role, refine his control, and be ready to stretch out and step in as a starter when help is inevitably needed. Or else the Twins could let him work as a reliever the entire season. The Cardinals did so with Adam Wainwright his rookie year, and he turned out alright.
Whichever route they choose to go, Minnesota must find a way to harness Meyer's overpowering arm. It makes little sense to send him back to the minors.

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