The Kansas City Royals won the world series against the New York Mets in a series of epic comebacks. They were behind in each of the games! In game #4, they were down to their last four outs, but ended up winning the game. In game #5, they were down to their last three outs–completely shut out in a brilliant pitching performance by Matt Harvey–but they scored two to tie it, going on to score seven runs in the 12th inning for the series victory. The Royals were relentless and never quit, so they are the World Champions.
Didn’t we do our annual baseball predictions for this season? I can’t find them. If we didn’t, that’s unlike me. If you can find them, say so in the comments so that we can see who, if anyone, won our virtual prognosticator award. All I know is that most observers, including me, picked the Washington Nationals, who didn’t even make the playoffs, likely because in times of adversity they are not relentless and do tend to quit.
An account of the series after the jump.
From Royals win the World Series with another epic comeback against the Mets – Yahoo Sports:
Of all the ways for the Kansas City Royals to win their first championship in 30 years, this was the most fitting for the team that put the never in never say die: coming back again, aggressive as ever, relentlessly punishing the New York Mets for one final, merciful time.
The final was 7-2 Royals, the World Series theirs after five games, and they jumped and hugged and did the standard celebrating a champion does on the mound at Citi Field. This was different, though, not just because the Royals fell 90 feet short last season but because this team, if not for its seven epic comebacks, would’ve found itself similarly beaten.
Instead, a five-run explosion in the 12th inning blew open a game that the Royals had tied in the ninth, and the party that will last all fall and winter long in Kansas City was just starting. Pinch hitter Christian Colon provided the first blow, knocking in Jarrod Dyson to break the tie. Four more runs followed, and Wade Davis, baseball’s best reliever, secured the last three outs to start the on-field dog pile.
In it was Lorenzo Cain, whose bases-clearing double accounted for the last three runs, and Eric Hosmer, whose daring run home in the ninth inning with two outs tied the score and let the Royals use their bullpen mastery. Manager Ned Yost, so often maligned in Kansas City, stood amid the chaos, admiring the plucky, aggressive, talented team he’d nurtured from perennial losers to postseason juggernaut.
The Royals’ eight come-from-behind victories – seven by at least two runs – epitomized a group that prided itself on contact hitting that proved more and more vital as the postseason went on.
[Keep reading. . .]
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In