3 things you need to know for Game 3 of the World Series

The World Series shifts to the spacious confines of AT&T Park in San Francisco for what is now a best-of-five series.

History has favored the winner of Game 3 when the World Series has been tied at 1-1, as the victorious team has gone on to win the championship 66.1 percent of the time. 

Here are three things you need to know for Game 3:

NL rules

Instead of having two strong bats at designated hitter in Billy Butler and Michael Morse, the pitchers will hit in San Francisco. That could lead to short outings for starters, lots of pinch hitting and more relievers. 

Both benches will be stretched out as a result, and bullpens may need to be, too. The teams play three nights in a row, so Royals manager Ned Yost is likely going to need to turn to more arms than the vaunted threesome of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and Greg Holland to get him through the contest. 

Giants manger Bruce Bochy may be working without a pair of right-handed relievers in Hunter Strickland and Tim Lincecum. 

Strickland has faced 23 batters this postseason and surrendered five homers. He can't be trusted in high-leverage situations, if at all, while Lincecum made his first appearance of the playoffs in Game 2 and had to be removed early due to lower back tightness. 

New territory for veteran arms

Jeremy Guthrie and Tim Hudson have a combined 27 years of major league experience and are both set to make their World Series debuts. 

Hudson is an extreme ground-ball pitcher who relies heavily on his sinker to keep the ball out of the air. Guthrie, on the other hand, has steadily increased his ground-ball rate over the last three seasons but still induces fly balls at an above-average rate. 

AT&T Park was the most home run suppressing stadium in the big leagues this season, something that could work in Guthrie's favor.

It's tough to envision either working deep into the game, but the one who provides a better start sets his team up well for a win based on how dominant each bullpen has been.

Defense matters 

Yost is reportedly thinking of inserting Jarrod Dyson into the starting lineup, and for good reason.

Dyson is a strong defensive player who is better suited than Nori Aoki to play behind a pitcher like Guthrie who allows a lot of balls in play, especially when factoring in the park and its right-center field dimensions. 

The Royals could trot out a plus-defensive outfield with Dyson in center, Lorenzo Cain in right and Alex Gordon in left, a trio that rates highly in advanced fielding metrics. 

The stats shown in the table assign run values to players, and each of the three outfielders rank better than the league-average mark which is set at zero. DEF is a positional-adjusted fielding stat, and Dyson and Cain - as well as teammates Salvador Perez and Alcides Escobar - rank as the top 25 defenders in the game over the last two seasons. 

Bochy has some decisions to contemplate, too. Travis Ishikawa, a natural first baseman, has struggled in left field. Morse isn't known for his glove, but perhaps it could be worth getting multiple at-bats out of him rather than simply using him once as a pinch hitter. Bochy could elect to sit both and insert Juan Perez, who has started one playoff game, into the lineup.