The Kansas City Royals ‘Took the Crown,’ and won the World Series in five games against the New York Mets to win their first title in 30 years since 1985.
The Royals came into the series off a high note after defeating the Houston Astros in the ALDS and the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. They became known as the comeback team through those series and that continued to shine all the way through the playoffs.
The Royals entered game one, hoping to jump out with an early lead in the series to relieve some of the pressure. The Royals had Edinson Volquez on the mound to try and rally the Royals toward success. The stadium crowd of 37,903 fans became electrified after an Alcides Escobar inside the park home run to center in the bottom of the first inning to put the Royals up 1-0. This was the first time an inside the park home run has ever been accomplished in a World Series throughout baseball history. The Mets fired back with a run in the fourth off of a Travis d’Arnaud single to left, tying the score at 1-1.
Throughout the fifth and sixth inning the Mets took a lead over the Royals from a Curtis Granderson home run in the fifth and a Michael Conforto sacrifice fly, scoring Yoenis Cespedes, bringing the score to 3-1 Mets. In the bottom of the sixth, the Royals put up a few runs of their own when Eric Hosmer hit a sacrifice fly to center scoring Ben Zobrist from third and a Mike Moustakas single to center scoring Lorenzo Cain. The Kansas City starter came out of the game after the sixth inning where he later discovered that his father 63-year-old Daniel Volquez, died of heart failure hours before his son started. The family chose not to inform Volquez until after he was done pitching so he could pitch without distractions. The Mets put up a run in the eighth which brought the score to 4-3 Mets. In the ninth inning, The closer Jeurys Familia for the Mets came in looking to shut the Royals down and take game one but little did they know Kansas City wasn’t letting game one go so easily.
This was a comeback team that has came back when it mattered the most in the past, why should that stop now?
The Royals were two outs from losing game one when Alex Gordon came up to bat. Gordon had a 1-1 count when he got a pitch that he loved and drove it deep into center field and over the wall which tied the game at 4-4.
“Gordon hit one about as good as he could hit it and we kept battling from there on,” manager Ned Yost said.
The game would continue on to extra innings. In the fourteenth inning, tying the record for the most innings of a world series game, the Royals had loaded up the bases and were in position to end the game and get the win. Eric Hosmer hit a sacrifice fly to right which brought in the speedy Escobar on third which ended the game at 5-4 Royals. Heading into game two of the series Kansas City was hungry for another win. The Royals showed that they could put together multiple runs and just break a team down with their play. After getting down 1-0 in the fourth, they came back and rallied in the fifth and scored four runs of their own. New York didn’t have an answer as Kansas City put up three more runs in the eighth and would continue on to win the game 7-1, taking game two of the World Series.
In game three, the Royals jumped out to an early lead of 3-2 at Citi Field in New York. This was in vain as the Mets came back and put up run after run bringing the score 9-3 New York which resulted in the first Royals loss of the series.
First basemen Eric Hosmer earns a base hit in Game 1 of the World Series. Royals beat the Mets 5-4 in 14 innings. Photo Credit: THS Media / Kyler Barnett
The ‘Boys in Blue’ demonstrated the will to never give up in game four, once again. New York took a lead in the game of 3-1 over the Royals.Tensions ran high in the early innings as the Mets starter Noah Syndergaard threw a 98 mph fastball at Alcides Escobar’s head to start the game
“No pitcher should throw a 98 mph pitch at the head of a batter in the first at-bat. If he wants to, he can throw it at my feet. He can throw it at any part of my body - but not at my head. That's just wrong," Alcides Escobar said.
As the game went on Kansas City’s chances were dwindling. If they wanted to win they would have to do something quick. Then the eighth inning came and the whole game was about to change. The Royals put up three runs, making the score 5-3 Kansas City. Kansas City would later win the game and the Royals chances for obtaining the ‘Crown’ was in their grasp with a series lead of 3-1.
Game 5 of the series proved to be one for the ages for the Royals. Edinson Volquez was back on the mound at Citi Field in New York after returning from his father's funeral in the Dominican Republic. The first batter, Curtis Granderson, came up to bat in the bottom of the first and hit a line drive to centerfield that landed over the wall and put New York ahead 1-0. After a short pitching battle between Volquez and the Mets pitcher Matt Harvey that lasted through the fifth inning, Volquez gave up another run to New York off a Lucas Duda sacrifice fly to center bringing the score 2-0 New York.
The top of the ninth came and for the Royals it was do-or-die time. The Mets pitcher Harvey had pitched a stellar game throughout and he wanted to ‘finish the job.’ This proved to be a huge mistake for New York that they couldn’t take back. Lorenzo Cain was walked to start the inning. Immediately following Cain stole second base to put him in scoring position. Eric Hosmer hit a double the very next pitch which brought in Cain and made the score 2-1 Mets. Matt Harvey would then leave the game which brought in Jeurys Familia once again. Mike Moustakas came up to bat against Familia and hit a groundball advancing Hosmer to third.
The tying run was now 90 eet away from saving the Royals hopes of putting the series away. This scenario was a lot similar to game seven of the World Series last year when Salvador Perez had a chance to bring in Alex Gordon to tie the game in the ninth. This time around, this scenario was going to work in Kansas City’s favor.
Salvador Perez had another chance to be the hero this time around. Perez hit a groundball to third basemen David Wright who thought he had watched Hosmer back enough to go ahead and make the out at first. ‘The Wizard of Hos’ worked his magic and raced home and scored on an unbelievable throw from first basemen Lucas Duda that went wide left and allowed Hosmer to score.
The game was headed to extra innings tied at 2-2 and the city of Kansas City anxiously waited for their title to be had.
The twelfth inning came and the Royals had surprise waiting for New York. Kansas City rallied quickly and put up five runs against the Mets pitchers Addison Reed and Bartolo Colon. Wade Davis came in for Kansas City in the bottom of the twelfth and just as he had done before in many situations. He shut down the first two batters out for the Mets by striking them out and then he allowed a base hit to Michael Conforto. Wilmer Flores came up to bat and Davis struck him out on a called third strike and the Royals had won the World Series.
The Royals had taken their ‘Crown’ and brought it back to Kansas City who has been waiting for many years to be champions once again. This is just the second time that Kansas City has won a World Series title since 30 years ago in 1985. The Royals organization and their fan base hopes that their will be many more championships to come for their team in future years.
”Everybody came to Spring Training, I mean, as determined of a group that I've ever seen. That they were going to get back and they were going to finish the deal this time. So from day one there was no doubt in my mind that they wouldn't accomplish it,”Yost said.