KANSAS CITY -- The way Kansas City Royals players describe how their teammate, Kendrys Morales, prepares to face an opposing pitcher sounds like a staff of math professors talking about a colleague who locks himself in a room and obsesses over a troublesome theorem.

They're not sure how he sees what he sees, and they're not sure whether they can see what he sees, because his observations are next-level. What they do know is Morales descends into some sort of mental cave, armed with videotape, and emerges with detailed answers. Lots of them.

"The only one comparable to him that I've ever been around," said Jonny Gomes, "was Manny Ramirez."

Morales' breakdown of pitching and pitchers could be crucial over the next nine days, as the Royals attempt to solve what represents baseball's most challenging problem: How can you beat the New York Mets' starting rotation of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz? Mets starters have combined for an ERA of 2.65 ERA in the postseason, with 69 strikeouts in 54 ⅓ innings.

They all throw hard, certainly. "To be a Mets pitcher, you have to have long hair and throw 100 mph, it seems like," said Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer Monday, intending the utmost respect.

But as the Royals began to study and prepare for this series, they have taken note of what the Dodgers and Cubs experienced firsthand: The Mets' starters are all capable of executing their secondary pitches -- changeups, curveballs, sliders -- at any moment in the ball-strike count.