A patented Kansas City Royals comeback—the kind where they keep fouling off tough pitches and putting the mistakes in play until you implode—has them one victory away from a World Series championship.
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Major League Baseball couldn’t dream of juicer storylines leading in to Game 5. Even if the season comes to an end on Sunday night, here are some stats to help you savor it.
Historically Speaking…
- With one more victory, Kansas City would avenge the gut-wrenching loss it suffered to the San Francisco Giants under these same bright lights the previous year. In doing so, this would be the first team since the 1988-89 Oakland Athletics to get a ring the year after losing in the World Series.
- Alcides Escobar owned the month of October, setting a franchise record with the longest hitting streak a Royals player has ever had in the postseason. And now, he’s within reach of matching Pablo Sandoval (Giants, 2014) for most total postseason hits compiled in one year. Escobar is four hits away from tying Sandoval at 26. As the lead-off man on the visiting team, he’s virtually assured of getting enough plate appearances to attempt that in Game 5.
- Although without a start in this postseason, Royals outfielder Paulo Orlando has made his presence felt as a late-inning defensive replacement. Assuming that Sunday is another close contest requiring his services, Orlando could become the first player since John Lackey (Anaheim Angels, 2002) to record a hit on his birthday during a World Series.
- If the New York Mets can’t deliver a title for their fans, the least they could do is give them more Bartolo Colon. The round right-hander continues to defy the laws of physics by holding his own against world-class athletes at age 42. Colon has appeared twice thus far against the Royals. The only player to pitch more games in a World Series at an older age is Jim Kaat (St. Louis Cardinals, 1982).
What to Watch for
- The Royals have dominated late inning pressure situations in this matchup and throughout the postseason, putting immense pressure on the Mets to jump out to an early lead against Edinson Volquez. But it’s going to be difficult to make solid contact. Volquez’s sinker came out of his hand with fiery velocity in October, and with nastier movement on its journey to home plate than he showed during the regular season. The Mets can win the battle by subscribing to a patient approach against the pitcher with the worst career walk rate among active starters (min. 1,000 career innings).
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Well, the season didn’t end Sunday night. Just early Monday morning. Love this Royals team, but geez, they aren’t easy on my heart.
Kansas City hit one home run that left the ballpark: Alex Gordon, with one out in the bottom of the ninth of Game 1 to tie the score. The wWPA on that homer was 47%, highest-value event of the entire Series.
The late-inning pressure on the teams was like two closed tanks partly filled with liquid and connected by a pipe. Whatever depleted the Mets replenished the Royals. “Thanks, I’ll take that since you’re not using it.”
There was a graphic during the game last night that said the Royals would be the 14th team to win a WS after losing the previous year. Like almost every stat that comes up in the broadcast of a game, I thought ‘well that’s interesting, but I have no context for that’. So I got to wondering how many times a team had made it to the WS two years in a row and lost both times. I remembered the Rangers, but although I have a fairly exhaustive knowledge of year-by-year champs, I don’t really remember the other finalists that well. Anyway, I checked it out and there are 12 teams to lose back-to-back (double counting two sequences of 3 straight losses as 2 sets of back-to-back losses):
2010-11 Rangers
1991-92 Braves
1977-78 Dodgers
1963-64 Yankees
1952-53 Dodgers
1936-37 Giants
1923-24 Giants
1921-22 Yankees
1912-13 Giants
1911-12 Giants
1908-09 Tigers
1907-08 Tigers
There are some cases of the same city represented and losing back-to-back, like the 43-44 Cards/Browns, 18-19 Cubs/Sox (with obvious asterisk for 1919), 14-15 As/Phils, as well as about a million combinations of the Dodgers/Yanks/Giants before the 50s. Of course, we know the Mets won’t join this list since next year San Fran is going to win the NL and WS (#evenyear), but maybe the Yanks can lose to the Giants in the Series.
The Cubs might also deserve an asterisk for 1918. The gamblers told the Sox in 1919 that it had been done before.
I’ve long thought the 1914 Braves’ sweep was a good candidate for “rigged dead-ball Series.” Mack’s mighty A’s, losing to those guys?
The 1917 Series is another candidate. You wouldn’t think McGraw would keep guys he believed had thrown ballgames, but consider his chicanery in signing Hal Chase for 1919 after Matty had released Chase from the Reds. Interesting stuff.
World Series sweeps from most shocking to least shocking:
Shocked they won, let alone swept division:
1990: Reds (91 wins) over A’s (103 wins, defending champs)
1914: Braves (94 wins) over A’s (99 wins, defending champs)
1954: Giants (97 wins) over Indians (111 wins)
1966: Orioles (97 wins) over Dodgers (95 wins, defending champs)
1963: Dodgers (99 wins) over Yankees (103 wins, defending champs)
Not surprised they won but this should have been closer division:
2004: Red Sox (98 wins) over Cardinals (105 wins)
2012: Giants (94 wins) over Tigers (88 wins)
2007: Red Sox (96 wins) over Rockies (90 wins)
1928: Yankees (101 wins) over Cardinals (95 wins)
2005: White Sox (99 wins) over Astros (89 wins)
1989: A’s (99 wins) over Giants (92 wins)
1999: Yankees (98 wins) over Braves (103 wins)
Best team who swept not named the Yankees Division:
1976: Reds (102 wins) over Yankees (97 wins)
I could have put these Yankees teams in any order and you would have agreed division:
1950: Yankees (98 wins) over Phillies (91 wins)
1937: Yankees (102 wins) over Giants (95 wins)
1938: Yankees (99 wins) over Cubs (89 wins)
1932: Yankees (107 wins) over Cubs (90 wins)
1927: Yankees (110 wins) over Pirates (94 wins)
1998: Yankees (114 wins) over Padres (98 wins)
Not included b/c they didn’t technically sweep (but they also didn’t lose a game) Division:
1922: Giants (93 wins) over Yankees (94 wins),
1907: Cubs (107 wins) over Tigers (92 wins)
Winning after losing is slightly more uncommon than losing after winning, which these clubs managed:
1. 2008-09 Phillies
2. 2000-01 Yankees
3. 1995-96 Braves
4. 1989-90 Athletics
5. 1970-71 Orioles
6. 1967-68 Cardinals
7. 1965-66 Dodgers
8. 1962-63 Yankees
9. 1957-58 Braves
10. 1956-57 Yankees
11. 1955-56 Dodgers
12. 1942-43 Cardinals
13. 1941-42 Yankees
14. 1930-31 Athletics
15. 1924-25 Senators
16. 1922-23 Giants
17. 1913-14 Athletics
Doug, the ’88-’90 A’s did one better (or worse), going lose-win-lose. How many of the teams on your list managed that ignominious feat? (Sorry; too busy on this end to dig into the results at the moment)
Well, looking at Doug’s list, the Orioles went L-W-L from 1969-1971
The Yankees went L-W-L in 1955-57. Of course, they rebounded in ’58 from a 3-1 Series deficit to reclaim the crown from the Braves.
That was the thing about the 1921-64 Yankees—on the rare occasions when they lost the World Series, they nearly always got quick revenge on the team that had beaten them. For Dodger fans, the 1981 victory over the Yankees was really sweet because it represented payback for 1977 and 1978. Usually it was the Yankees who got the last word.
I don’t know, there are quite a few NL teams that have the last laugh on the Yankees right now. The Cardinals (1964), the Reds (1976), the afore mentioned Dodgers (1981), the Pirates (1960), the Marlins (2003), the Dbacks (2001).
So, the Yankees have the last laugh on the Phillies (2009), the Mets (2000), Braves (1999), Padres (1998), Giants (1962), Cubs (1938).
Yankees have not played the Rockies, the Brewers and the Expos/Nationals in the WS (though they did beat up on the former team from Washington enough back in the day that they wrote a play about it)
Thus endeth the first World Series involving two teams that were not among the original 16. The Class of ’69 showed up big.
Four previous Series in which the winning team won the first two games at home, lost the third game on the road, and then wrapped up the championship with two road wins: 1933 (Giants over Senators), 1988 (Dodgers over A’s), 2000 (Yankees over Mets), and 2010 (Giants over Rangers).