Game seven! What you need to know

Jeremy Guthrie for the Royals and Tim Hudson for the Giants are the starting pitchers in game seven. Photo / AP

Today's decider between the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals is the 37th time in 106 years that baseball's World Series will have a game seven.

Here's all you need to know about the winner-takes-all finale to the season.

Who will start on the mound?
The Giants will have Tim Hudson on the mound, who is yet the win a game in this postseason. He had a 9-13 record in the regular season. Hudson (39) has been in the big leagues for 15 years and is set to become the oldest game seven starter in history. The Giants also have ace Madison Bumgarner available for a stint - he has been almost unhittable in the series so far, with victories in game one and five allowing just one run in 16 innings.

Jeremy Guthrie will start for the Royals. He was 13-11 during the season and won game three of the series in a victory over Hudson. The Royals later innings pitching trio of Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis and All-Star closer Greg Holland will be set to take over from Guthrie.

Does winning game six matter?
Yes - Of the last 10 teams to clinch a title with a game seven win, nine sides saw off elimination with a victory in game six. The only side since 1979 to lose game six and win game seven is the Florida Marlins (1997).

- The Royals won game six 10-0.

Does home advantage matter?
Yes - Teams with the home-field advantage have won 23 of the last 28 titles and since 1982 the last nine game sevens have been won by the home team.

- The Royals host game seven.

What does history say about these two clubs and game sevens?
The Royals' last and only World Series title in 1985 was won in a game seven, an 11-0 thrashing over the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Giants have never won a game seven, having lost four - two as New York (1912, 1924) and two as San Francisco (1962 and 2002).

What's the most famous game seven?
There have been many. Babe Ruth caught stealing to end the 1926 World Series - handing victory to the Cardinals, Bill Mazeroski's walk-off home run to win the Pirates the 1960 title, Willie McCovey's failure to find a hit with two-out bottom of the ninth and men on third and second against the Yankees in 1962 or the Diamondbacks coming back from two runs down in the bottom of the ninth against the greatest closer of all time Mariano Rivera, to steal a 3-2 win over the Yankees in 2001.

What's the longest game seven?
Only on four occasions has a game seven gone into extra innings. The last time it happened was in 1997 when the Marlins defeated the Cleveland Indians 3-2 after 11 innings, the second longest game seven.

The longest game seven was in 1924 when the Washington Senators beat the New York Giants 4-3 in 12 innings. Giants catcher Hank Gowdy dropped a foul ball to let the eventual winning run Muddy Ruel on base.