They’ll take on a determined and experienced Royals team that thrives on making consistent contact at the plate. The three players ahead of him? New York played at Kauffman Stadium in 2004…. If they can do that – and they’ve proven they’re entirely capable of doing it this October – while playing up to their potential, the Mets have a great shot at winning the World Series for the first time in nearly 30 years. New York’s last championship came the following year…. “I said, ‘You’re always more than welcome, but we hope you’re busy'”. Cueto, meanwhile, is 3-4 with a 4.02 ERA. With the DH rule in the American League ballparks, it’s an adjustment for the NL team, for sure. While he may not have the historical numbers Wade Davis has, Familia is very reliable. Through 5 ½ innings, the Mets had a 3-1 lead, with Matt Harvey on the mound.
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That was quick. Well, game one wasn’t quick, but the New York Mets sudden urgency to win game two was.
A year earlier, it was an all Missouri matchup in the World Series, as the Kansas City Royals were matched up against the heavily favoured St. Louis Cardinals. In the Division Series and Championship Series, the four starters recorded 71 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched.
Here’s a fairly mind-boggling fact: This is the first ever World Series to not feature an original team from MLB’s inception. Opening odds on the Series were dead even at the Wynn Las Vegas.
For the record, I still have the Mets in six. Jacob DeGrom is no different but Noah Syndergaard almost approaches 100 miles per hour with his four-seam fastball.
One through nine, the Royals have quality bats up and down their lineup.
These aren’t the 2000 New York Mets, though, and the 2015 Kansas City Royals aren’t the 2000 New York Yankees. The New York Mets on the other hand are back in the World Series for the first time since 2000.
Then there was Curtis Granderson, who reached base three times, including a home run. The 2014 Major League Baseball All-Star had hit only 62 regular-season homeruns prior to this year’s playoffs.
Show me the money: Watching the Mets roll over the Cubs in the National League Championship Series opened my eyes to something.
Twitter posts began appearing throughout Murphy’s historic run as liberal sports fans shared their disappointment that a baseball player with conservative Christian beliefs about sexuality was being hailed as a sports hero. Perez has 4 homers this postseason. Here, 12 stats that explain the Mets’ run to the World Series. 296 with eight home runs and 37 RBIs. Harvey was the ace two years ago, but had an injury last year. Both were acquired in the trade that sent Greinke to Milwaukee in 2010….
Kansas City has been there before, so this stage is nothing new to them. 529 batting average, four home runs, six runs batted in, and a 1.294 slugging percentage. Cueto, acquired midseason to win big games at the top of the rotation, has been an enigma this postseason.
The regular season chart, on the left, requires a little more attention than the chart above, since the color differentials don’t provide much help. The Royals had seven All-Stars this season, not counting manager Ned Yost and the entire coaching staff. The NLCS MVP, who can become a free agent next month, batted. 529 (9 for 17) against the Cubs and is hitting. Or they could install Juan Uribe and his history of huge postseason hits into the lineup behind Murphy, too.
Cespedes and Conforto had a mix-up right off the bat Tuesday night, when Alcides Escobar’s drive to deep left-center ricocheted off Cespedes’ lower right leg and rolled away.
There was only one runner in the first two innings, and that was Mets slugger Lucas Duda on an infield single against Kansas City’s shift. The Mets had previously held to their stance that Murphy’s postseason performance wouldn’t affect negotiations. “We’ve got to do a better job of using the field to hit”.
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It’s a cliché and has been for a long time, but it fits.
