The groundwork for back-to-back World Series runs by the Kansas City Royals began on a cold December day in 2010 when they traded perhaps the games best pitcher. The Mets have great starters.
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Season Series: Did not play. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz all live in the mid-to-upper 90s with their fastballs, and the same goes for stud closer Jeurys Familia. They may not be as sharp in a Game 1, which may put the Mets in a quick hole. In their place are Hochevar, Kris Medlen, Franklin Morales and Ryan Madson, another reclamation project who was out of the game before Kansas City gave him one last chance.
But it’s among the pitchers where the differences are most stark: Along with Ventura, the rotation consists of Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto and Chris Young, while a year ago it was James Shields, Jeremy Guthrie and Jason Vargas in the postseason.
But not much to link this current crop of Mets and Royals to each other. New York’s last championship came the following year….
“I said, [Newcombe] how’s the World Series?” Neither Familia nor Davis gave up a run in the playoffs.
This is going to be a very different series for the Mets. Reserve infielder Juan Uribe, who owns a pair of World Series rings, hopes to return from a chest cartilage injury that’s sidelined him since late September…. “We’re not the team that lives and dies with the power”. He has lost seven straight games in the playoffs, and writer Scott Stinson of Toronto says that Price just could not get the playoff monkey off his back. With a young and talented pitching staff the Mets had the arms but lacked the bats.
“He’s one of my best friends”, Moustakas said. Kansas City Royals needed one player who could defy the logic and perform in any condition. Along the way, the Mets beat a string of accomplished aces: Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta…. Streaky all season, Duda broke out of a bad slump with a homer, 2 doubles and 5 RBIs in the NLCS clincher at Wrigley Field.
Moustakas’ homer came with a few controversy.
SIMON: OK, Major League Baseball was openly salivating over the prospects of the Cubs getting to the World Series for the first time since the Paleozoic Era… The team’s postseason appearance in 2014 ended a 29-year drought….
Perhaps it was only fitting that Wade Davis closed out the win. Perez has 4 homers this postseason. The Blue Jays ace actually pitched well after a rough start, giving up five hits and three runs and striking out eight in 6⅔ innings. Cain was the MVP of last year’s ALCS. That victory clinched the American League Central title, a feat the team hadn’t achieved since 1985.
Other than driving in the tying run of Game 2 against Toronto, Moustakas had been four for 37 this postseason.
The Blue Jays contested that a fan had interfered with the ball and it might have stayed in play otherwise, but the homer and the 2-0 lead stood after a video review.
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Royals manager Ned Yost said there were three contributers to the pivotal play, citing third base coach Mike Jirschele along with Cain and Hosmer. Beyond their 5.34 ERA, they’ve given up 51 hits and 31 walks in 59 innings. Escobar, the ALCS MVP, batted. The Blue Jays have hit five. After six innings of one hit ball, Price was victimized by a leadoff dunker by Ben Zobrist, one that Jose Bautista let fall as his teammate took a tumble.
