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Royals win World Series, despite 12 teams with better odds to start season
The Kansas City Royals won their first World Series since 1985 Sunday night in New York after entering the season at 25-1 to win it all.
Before the Royals captured their second World Series and first since 1985, they entered the season at 25-1 to win it all, which doesn't seem so bad, until you realize that 12 teams had better odds than the Royals to win the World Series.
So despite coming within a run of winning the 2014 World Series, no one really thought the Kansas City Royals would do it again at the beginning of 2015. But they did. Beating the Mets 7-2 in 12 innings to take Game 5 and the series 4-1.
The Nationals (5-1), Dodgers (6-1), Cardinals (8-1), Mariners (12-1), Angels (12-1), Red Sox (14-1), Orioles (16-1), Tigers (18-1), Indians (18-1), Athletics (20-1), Cubs (20-1) and Padres (20-1) all had better World Series odds than the Royals entering the season, according to the Westgate LV Superbook.
The trend hasn't changed heading into 2016 either.
The Westgate LV Superbook released their odds for the 2016 World Series last week, opening the Royals at 18-1. Behind the Dodgers (8-1), Mets (10-1), Cubs (10-1), Nationals (10-1), Blue Jays (10-1), Cardinals (12-1), Rangers (12-1), Astros (12-1), Pirates (12-1) and the Yankees at (16-1). That's 10 more teams.
Maybe things will change this week, but the Royals probably don't care.
Royals C Perez named World Series MVP
One year after leaving the tying run on third base to end the seventh game of the World Series, Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez was selected the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 Fall Classic.
Perez hit safely in all five games of the World Series against the New York Mets, batting .364 (8-for-22) with two RBIs. He drove in the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday on a grounder to third base, with Eric Hosmer scoring from third on a delayed dash.
Last year, the Royals trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs and left fielder Alex Gordon on third base against San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner. The Giants left-hander induced a foul pop to seal the championship -- and his own World Series MVP award.
Perez's honor likely took into account his work in guiding the Royals' pitching staff, especially the stellar relief staff. In the clincher Sunday, three Kansas City relievers combined to allow two hits and one walk while striking out six in six scoreless innings.
In the Royals' 16 postseason games, Perez hit .259 with a .328 on-base percentage, a .517 slugging percentage, four homers and eight RBIs.
5 reasons why Royals won World Series
NEW YORK -- The Kansas City Royals claimed their second World Series title and first since 1985 with a 7-2 victory over the New York Mets in Game 5 on Sunday.
The Royals tied the game with two runs in the ninth inning, then broke the game open with five runs in the 12th.
Kansas City mastered the art of the comeback. Eight of the Royals' 11 victories were of the comeback variety and they scored 51 runs in the seventh inning or beyond. Since Kansas City was able to come back by capitalizing on mistakes and creating their own opportunities and is a championship team a year after stranding the tying run on third in Game 7 at home against the San Francisco Giants.
Here are five reasons why the Royals won the World Series:
1. Games are never over: The cliche is the game is not over until the 27th out, and perhaps no team defines it like Kansas City. The Royals were five outs away from losing Game 4 and three outs away from dropping Game 5 and seeing the series go back to Kansas City. Instead, they picked up their latest set of late-inning comeback wins and finished the postseason with eight comeback victories and an astounding 51 runs in the seventh inning or later while going 6-0 in extra innings over the last two postseasons.
2. The snowball effect: With most teams, rallies produce one or two runs. Not the Royals. Three innings after tying Game 5, Kansas City scored five times in the 12th, sending nine men to the plate and taking a 7-2 lead on a three-run double by center fielder Lorenzo Cain. It was similar to Game 4, when the Royals scored three times in the eighth inning after taking advantage of an error by Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy that allowed in the tying run.
3. Maybe it was meant to be: After nearly winning Game 7 at home last year against the San Francisco Giants, the Royals seemed determine not to lost the World Series in heartbreaking fashion again. The Royals got off to a great start and cruised to the AL Central title before this magical postseason run, which saw pinch hitter Christian Colon get the series-clinching hit in the 12th inning. It seemed unbelievable since Colon had not appeared in the postseason until then, but on the Royals' radio broadcast, announcers Denny Matthews and Ryan Lefebvre said: "Unbelievable or maybe believable."
4. They have Hosmer, Cain and Perez: Though there are many who contributed to this championship, perhaps nobody was more impactful than first baseman Eric Hosmer, center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who sparked the ninth inning comeback, and catcher Salvador Perez, whose hit started the five-run 12th. Cain opened the ninth with a walk off Matt Harvey, stole second and scored when Hosmer doubled to left. Hosmer then scored the tying run when he took off for home plate as third baseman David Wright threw to first base on a groundout by Perez. Three innings later, Cain extended the lead from 4-2 to 7-2, effectively ensuring the Royals would get the championship. Cain's hit came after Perez led off the 12th with a bloop single to right field. Besides guiding the pitching staff, Perez went 8-for-22 (.364) in the series and became the first catcher to win World Series MVP honors since Pat Borders in 1992 for the Toronto Blue Jays.
5. They also have pitching: The Mets had the spotlight in the ace department with youngsters Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. It turned out the Royals' pitching was pretty good, too. The Royals finished the World Series with a 2.94 ERA, a figure inflated by Yordano Ventura's short start in Game 3. Edinson Volquez started Games 1 and 5 with a heavy heart following the death of his father in the Dominican Republic. He allowed a total of four earned runs in 12 innings. On Sunday, he gave the Royals the opportunity to rally by only allowing one run after loading the bases in the sixth with nobody out. Johnny Cueto was even better after struggling in the AL Championship Series. He pitched a dominant two-hitter in a 7-1 win in Game 2. The Royals also got a herculean effort from Kelvin Herrera, who pitched three innings for the first time in his career in Game 5 before Wade Davis finished it off, ending a season when he was the best reliever in the game with a strikeout of Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores.
Early-arriving Mets deal with stinging Series loss
NEW YORK -- For the New York Mets, the pain from losing the World Series won't disappear for quite some time.
However, even in the immediate aftermath of elimination very early Monday morning, the Mets were proud of traveling further and arriving on the doorstep of a championship faster than almost anyone could have anticipated.
The Mets blew a two-run ninth inning lead in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday night before the Royals busted out for five runs in the 12th inning of a 7-2 win that gave Kansas City the second championship in franchise history.
"Rightfully, this stings," said Mets third baseman David Wright, the team captain. "And our heads are going to be down for a little bit."
The Mets will be particularly down about the near-misses that could have tilted the Series in their favor. New York blew a ninth inning lead as well in Game 1 on Tuesday, which the Royals eventually won 5-4 in 14 innings.
On Saturday, the Mets blew a pair of two-run leads and lost when the Royals scored three times in the eighth inning of a 5-3 win. And on Sunday, right-hander Matt Harvey carried a four-hit shutout into the ninth before Kansas City stormed back.
"That's why it's baseball," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "That's why you've got to play nine innings. You say you had them -- you never have them until the 27th out is made.
"I told the guys: This is the time to enjoy it and be proud of your accomplishments. But when you lose at the end of the season, it's not fun."
Even so, the idea of the Mets ending the season in the World Series -- and not after game No. 162, as they had during the previous six sub-.500 seasons -- seemed inconceivable when the injury-plagued team had the lowest-scoring offense in the National League and a 49-48 record through July 24.
A series of deadline deals, as well as the return of Wright (spinal stenosis) and catcher Travis d'Arnaud (elbow) rejuvenated the Mets, who moved into a tie for first place in the NL East by sweeping the Washington Nationals from July 31 through Aug. 2. The Mets moved into sole possession of first place the next day and never fell out.
The Mets edged the Los Angeles Dodgers in a five-game NL Division Series before sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the NL Championship Series to advance to the World Series for the first time since 2000.
"I told the guys in this clubhouse, this organization, this fan base, this city turned, for me, my worst year because of this injury into the most exciting time I've ever had on a baseball field," Wright said. "I can't thank the guys in this clubhouse enough, these fans, this organization, (for) this opportunity to play in the World Series."
Now the Mets will attempt to do what the Royals did -- coming back to win the World Series the year after losing it. While budgetary woes always will loom for New York in the post-Bernie Madoff era -- outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is almost sure to depart as a free agent while second baseman Daniel Murphy may also exit for greener pastures -- the team's vaunted young rotation of Harvey, right-handers Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard and left-hander Steven Matz should ensure contention for the foreseeable future at Citi Field.
"I'll tell you one thing: They learned how to get through this," Collins said of the pitchers. "They learned how to get through a long season. They learned what it's like to play in October, and they're going to be a lot better because of this experience."
It is an experience they will cherish -- sooner than later, perhaps.
"As much as it stings, a couple days from now, a couple weeks from now, you'll be able to sit back, kind of take a deep breath and just think about how cool this was and how much fun we had and how proud we should be of what we were able to accomplish this year," Wright said. "That means a lot to me. And I'm sure everybody in here will sit back and have a smile on their faces when they think about everything we accomplished this year."
The Kansas City Royals won their first World Series since 1985 Sunday night in New York after entering the season at 25-1 to win it all.
Before the Royals captured their second World Series and first since 1985, they entered the season at 25-1 to win it all, which doesn't seem so bad, until you realize that 12 teams had better odds than the Royals to win the World Series.
So despite coming within a run of winning the 2014 World Series, no one really thought the Kansas City Royals would do it again at the beginning of 2015. But they did. Beating the Mets 7-2 in 12 innings to take Game 5 and the series 4-1.
The Nationals (5-1), Dodgers (6-1), Cardinals (8-1), Mariners (12-1), Angels (12-1), Red Sox (14-1), Orioles (16-1), Tigers (18-1), Indians (18-1), Athletics (20-1), Cubs (20-1) and Padres (20-1) all had better World Series odds than the Royals entering the season, according to the Westgate LV Superbook.
The trend hasn't changed heading into 2016 either.
The Westgate LV Superbook released their odds for the 2016 World Series last week, opening the Royals at 18-1. Behind the Dodgers (8-1), Mets (10-1), Cubs (10-1), Nationals (10-1), Blue Jays (10-1), Cardinals (12-1), Rangers (12-1), Astros (12-1), Pirates (12-1) and the Yankees at (16-1). That's 10 more teams.
Maybe things will change this week, but the Royals probably don't care.
Royals C Perez named World Series MVP
One year after leaving the tying run on third base to end the seventh game of the World Series, Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez was selected the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 Fall Classic.
Perez hit safely in all five games of the World Series against the New York Mets, batting .364 (8-for-22) with two RBIs. He drove in the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning Sunday on a grounder to third base, with Eric Hosmer scoring from third on a delayed dash.
Last year, the Royals trailed 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs and left fielder Alex Gordon on third base against San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner. The Giants left-hander induced a foul pop to seal the championship -- and his own World Series MVP award.
Perez's honor likely took into account his work in guiding the Royals' pitching staff, especially the stellar relief staff. In the clincher Sunday, three Kansas City relievers combined to allow two hits and one walk while striking out six in six scoreless innings.
In the Royals' 16 postseason games, Perez hit .259 with a .328 on-base percentage, a .517 slugging percentage, four homers and eight RBIs.
5 reasons why Royals won World Series
NEW YORK -- The Kansas City Royals claimed their second World Series title and first since 1985 with a 7-2 victory over the New York Mets in Game 5 on Sunday.
The Royals tied the game with two runs in the ninth inning, then broke the game open with five runs in the 12th.
Kansas City mastered the art of the comeback. Eight of the Royals' 11 victories were of the comeback variety and they scored 51 runs in the seventh inning or beyond. Since Kansas City was able to come back by capitalizing on mistakes and creating their own opportunities and is a championship team a year after stranding the tying run on third in Game 7 at home against the San Francisco Giants.
Here are five reasons why the Royals won the World Series:
1. Games are never over: The cliche is the game is not over until the 27th out, and perhaps no team defines it like Kansas City. The Royals were five outs away from losing Game 4 and three outs away from dropping Game 5 and seeing the series go back to Kansas City. Instead, they picked up their latest set of late-inning comeback wins and finished the postseason with eight comeback victories and an astounding 51 runs in the seventh inning or later while going 6-0 in extra innings over the last two postseasons.
2. The snowball effect: With most teams, rallies produce one or two runs. Not the Royals. Three innings after tying Game 5, Kansas City scored five times in the 12th, sending nine men to the plate and taking a 7-2 lead on a three-run double by center fielder Lorenzo Cain. It was similar to Game 4, when the Royals scored three times in the eighth inning after taking advantage of an error by Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy that allowed in the tying run.
3. Maybe it was meant to be: After nearly winning Game 7 at home last year against the San Francisco Giants, the Royals seemed determine not to lost the World Series in heartbreaking fashion again. The Royals got off to a great start and cruised to the AL Central title before this magical postseason run, which saw pinch hitter Christian Colon get the series-clinching hit in the 12th inning. It seemed unbelievable since Colon had not appeared in the postseason until then, but on the Royals' radio broadcast, announcers Denny Matthews and Ryan Lefebvre said: "Unbelievable or maybe believable."
4. They have Hosmer, Cain and Perez: Though there are many who contributed to this championship, perhaps nobody was more impactful than first baseman Eric Hosmer, center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who sparked the ninth inning comeback, and catcher Salvador Perez, whose hit started the five-run 12th. Cain opened the ninth with a walk off Matt Harvey, stole second and scored when Hosmer doubled to left. Hosmer then scored the tying run when he took off for home plate as third baseman David Wright threw to first base on a groundout by Perez. Three innings later, Cain extended the lead from 4-2 to 7-2, effectively ensuring the Royals would get the championship. Cain's hit came after Perez led off the 12th with a bloop single to right field. Besides guiding the pitching staff, Perez went 8-for-22 (.364) in the series and became the first catcher to win World Series MVP honors since Pat Borders in 1992 for the Toronto Blue Jays.
5. They also have pitching: The Mets had the spotlight in the ace department with youngsters Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard. It turned out the Royals' pitching was pretty good, too. The Royals finished the World Series with a 2.94 ERA, a figure inflated by Yordano Ventura's short start in Game 3. Edinson Volquez started Games 1 and 5 with a heavy heart following the death of his father in the Dominican Republic. He allowed a total of four earned runs in 12 innings. On Sunday, he gave the Royals the opportunity to rally by only allowing one run after loading the bases in the sixth with nobody out. Johnny Cueto was even better after struggling in the AL Championship Series. He pitched a dominant two-hitter in a 7-1 win in Game 2. The Royals also got a herculean effort from Kelvin Herrera, who pitched three innings for the first time in his career in Game 5 before Wade Davis finished it off, ending a season when he was the best reliever in the game with a strikeout of Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores.
Early-arriving Mets deal with stinging Series loss
NEW YORK -- For the New York Mets, the pain from losing the World Series won't disappear for quite some time.
However, even in the immediate aftermath of elimination very early Monday morning, the Mets were proud of traveling further and arriving on the doorstep of a championship faster than almost anyone could have anticipated.
The Mets blew a two-run ninth inning lead in Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday night before the Royals busted out for five runs in the 12th inning of a 7-2 win that gave Kansas City the second championship in franchise history.
"Rightfully, this stings," said Mets third baseman David Wright, the team captain. "And our heads are going to be down for a little bit."
The Mets will be particularly down about the near-misses that could have tilted the Series in their favor. New York blew a ninth inning lead as well in Game 1 on Tuesday, which the Royals eventually won 5-4 in 14 innings.
On Saturday, the Mets blew a pair of two-run leads and lost when the Royals scored three times in the eighth inning of a 5-3 win. And on Sunday, right-hander Matt Harvey carried a four-hit shutout into the ninth before Kansas City stormed back.
"That's why it's baseball," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "That's why you've got to play nine innings. You say you had them -- you never have them until the 27th out is made.
"I told the guys: This is the time to enjoy it and be proud of your accomplishments. But when you lose at the end of the season, it's not fun."
Even so, the idea of the Mets ending the season in the World Series -- and not after game No. 162, as they had during the previous six sub-.500 seasons -- seemed inconceivable when the injury-plagued team had the lowest-scoring offense in the National League and a 49-48 record through July 24.
A series of deadline deals, as well as the return of Wright (spinal stenosis) and catcher Travis d'Arnaud (elbow) rejuvenated the Mets, who moved into a tie for first place in the NL East by sweeping the Washington Nationals from July 31 through Aug. 2. The Mets moved into sole possession of first place the next day and never fell out.
The Mets edged the Los Angeles Dodgers in a five-game NL Division Series before sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the NL Championship Series to advance to the World Series for the first time since 2000.
"I told the guys in this clubhouse, this organization, this fan base, this city turned, for me, my worst year because of this injury into the most exciting time I've ever had on a baseball field," Wright said. "I can't thank the guys in this clubhouse enough, these fans, this organization, (for) this opportunity to play in the World Series."
Now the Mets will attempt to do what the Royals did -- coming back to win the World Series the year after losing it. While budgetary woes always will loom for New York in the post-Bernie Madoff era -- outfielder Yoenis Cespedes is almost sure to depart as a free agent while second baseman Daniel Murphy may also exit for greener pastures -- the team's vaunted young rotation of Harvey, right-handers Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard and left-hander Steven Matz should ensure contention for the foreseeable future at Citi Field.
"I'll tell you one thing: They learned how to get through this," Collins said of the pitchers. "They learned how to get through a long season. They learned what it's like to play in October, and they're going to be a lot better because of this experience."
It is an experience they will cherish -- sooner than later, perhaps.
"As much as it stings, a couple days from now, a couple weeks from now, you'll be able to sit back, kind of take a deep breath and just think about how cool this was and how much fun we had and how proud we should be of what we were able to accomplish this year," Wright said. "That means a lot to me. And I'm sure everybody in here will sit back and have a smile on their faces when they think about everything we accomplished this year."
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