Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez celebrates after Game 5 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Mets Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, in New York. The Royals won 7-2 to win the series. (Al Bello/Pool via AP)
The Kansas City Royals captured their first World Series title in 30 years with a 7-2 win in 12 innings over the New York Mets on Sunday night, and catcher Salvador Perez walked away with MVP honors following his sensational championship display.
Perez went 1-for-5 in Game 5, but his RBI groundout to third base in the top of the ninth scored Eric Hosmer and allowed Kansas City to send the game to extra innings.
The Royals catcher finished the World Series with a team-high eight hits—three of which came in Saturday's Game 4 win—and two RBI, while batting .364 as he became the first catcher to take home the hardware since the Toronto Blue Jays' Pat Borders in 1992, according to ESPN Stats & Info.
StatsCentre added that Perez became the seventh catcher in MLB history to earn World Series MVP honors, while MLB.com's Richard Justice pointed out that Perez joined Pablo Sandoval (2012) as the only Venezuelan-born players to accomplish the feat.
MLB snapped a shot of a giddy Perez in the locker room while he was accepting his trophy:
"I already forget about last year," Perez told reporters following the win, according to ASAP Sports. "So I just enjoy the moment now. In 2015 Kansas City is No. 1. Who cares about what happened last year?"
As Baseball Tonight explained prior to Game 5, Perez's play behind the plate over the past few seasons has been tremendous:
The Royals had worthy MVP candidates galore—including Alcides Escobar and Eric Hosmer—but Perez's consistency with the title on the line was hard to ignore. According to Justice, Perez played every inning of the World Series before manager Ned Yost removed him for a pinch runner in the 12th on Sunday night.
The 25-year-old recorded a hit in every game of the World Series, and without his poise behind the plate, Kansas City may not have reached the championship plateau.
Comeback Kid Royals Turn It on in Clutch Final Innings
Nov 1, 2015
Kansas City Royals' Salvador Perez reacts after hitting an RBI single during the eighth inning of Game 4 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Mets Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
To examine the data, skim over the analytics and listen to the brains that have firmly entrenched themselves in every single major league front office, clutch does not exist.
It is not tangible. It is not readily quantifiable. Players do not perform better, over time, in certain situations. Other players do not fold, over time, in the same ones.
"Clutch" does not exist.
But then there are the Kansas City Royals, a team that has come from behind to win seven postseason games this October, and over the last two postseasons one that has used that improbable and usually ineffective strategy to earn 10 of their 21 total playoff victories. The Royals have a patent on late-inning heroics lately, from their dominant bullpen throwing up zero after zero to their defense saving hides to the offense finding ways to take extra bases and plate winning runs.
That was the formula they again used Halloween night to come back from a two-run deficit, taking Game 4 of the World Series 5-3 over the New York Mets at Citi Field. The win gave the Royals a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, with all three victories being pulled out after they had fallen behind.
"That's just what our team does. We feel like if we can keep the game close, we're going to find a way to win it," Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters in his postgame press conference. "Our bullpen is so dynamic, they give us a chance to win those type of games.
"It's a team that just looks for a little crack. If we find a little crack, they're going to make something happen. It's amazing how they do that. And they do that in a number of ways."
That they do.
Years of living at or near the bottom of the major league standings earned the Royals a flood of high draft picks. And because they had little to play for when they did find themselves with a bona fide major league star, they were able to trade him for young players they deemed future stars.
Now, many of those players are the core of this dynamic Royals roster. While it might not be consistently capable of shutting down opponents with starting pitching or thumping them with overwhelming power, it plays the best defense of any team in the sport while not striking out and pitching with uncanny deft out of the bullpen.
The bullpen is the highlight of the list. Often a mistakenly overlooked part of many clubs, the Royals paid special attention to their group and built it to throw hard and with an ability to strand runners. Over the last two seasons combined, only the Pittsburgh Pirates have a better bullpen ERA and left-on-base rate than Kansas City, according to Fangraphs.
And now, a year after posting a 2.74 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 62.1 playoff innings, Kansas City's relievers have a 2.76 ERA with 83 strikeouts in 58.2 innings while the only soft spot has been them allowing nine home runs, though they have gone through the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays, the two top power-hitting teams in the majors based on home runs.
On Saturday, the relievers gave the Royals five innings of one-run production. And closer Wade Davis, arguably the best reliever in the sport with his major league-leading 0.97 ERA over the last two seasons, threw two innings to close out the Mets and put the Royals on the brink of the World Series title that escaped them last fall.
"He's the best," Royals left fielder Alex Gordon told MLB Network after the game. "He's been doing it for two years, and he just steps up in big situations and gets it done. He did it again tonight."
But a team needs to score to come from behind to win, and in the fateful three-run eighth inning that led them to the victory, the Royals drew two walks and did not strike out once. They capitalized on a fielding error and got a couple of singles to plate their runs before handing the ball to Davis for a second inning.
During the regular season, the Royals were the only major league team not to strike out 1,000 times, and they also had the second-fewest walks in the majors. And with the game on the line, they continued to do what they typically do well and they stepped up a part of their game they typically do not rely on.
"But the most important thing is they put the ball in play," Yost told reporters. "They make things happen by putting the ball in play, and it's just a phenomenal group."
Most of what the Royals do can be measured, quantified. It has a number that correlates to their success. We know why and how they win. We know where they succeed and fail.
But what they seem to do during the postseason, that is a little less certain. They win when you do not expect them to win. They force you to never give up on them because recent history tells us we'd be stupid to do such a thing, and time after time they prove the faith to be justified.
They show that maybe "clutch" actually does exist.
Unlikely Star Chris Young Overcomes Heartache, Prepares for 1st Series Start
Oct 31, 2015
Kansas City Royals pitcher Chris Young throws during the 12th inning of Game 1 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Mets Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
NEW YORK — Measured against the New York Mets’ staff of flamethrowers, Chris Young’s fastball can be timed with a sundial.
His fastball is soooo slow, Kansas City infielders often excuse themselves for dinner as he winds up and then return to their positions before the ball crosses the plate.
His fastball is soooo slow, it makes Kansas City’s award-winning, slow-cooked barbecue seem like fast food—the ribs smoking in so much less time than Young’s non-smoking “heater” moves.
His fastball is soooo slow, rumor has it that manager Ned Yost does his taxes in the Royals dugout while everyone waits for the ball to get to the batter.
Listen. Don’t mention any of this to the man himself. The velocity topic grows old with Young, and you can’t blame him.
Because here he is again, ready to start Game 4 Saturday as the Kansas City Royals look to re-establish their momentum in this World Series, and there is so much more to the man than his 6'10" height and pedestrian fastball jokes.
In making his first World Series start at age 36, Young will pitch with his father in his heart and his college coach in the stands.
He will pitch after missing the entire 2013 season, part of a three-year battle to overcome shoulder problems.
He will pitch seven seasons after an Albert Pujols line drive drilled him square in the face, which sent him toward surgery and an uncertain future.
And he will pitch, as always, with the smarts and determination that have allowed him to throw that fastball right by the skeptics for most of his career.
“It’s very cool to be here,” Young told Bleacher Report during a conversation in the Royals dugout recently. “It’s very rewarding.”
It also is bittersweet, finally stepping into a World Series for the first time in his 11-year career. Because his father, Charles, 70, passed away in late September from multiple myeloma.
Charles always was Chris’ biggest fan, and this summer he loved watching the Royals. They are the best team Chris ever played on. The two talked often, and his father was excited over what October would bring.
Now, Chris will take the ball for Game 4, just as he did for three shutout innings of relief while earning the win in Game 1, feeling his dad’s presence even closer than usual.
“I like to think that he’s here,” Young said. “It’s life. He took so much enjoyment watching our team play. He will be in the stadium.
“It’s just different.”
The relief outing the other night to finish a wild, 14-inning Game 1 makes your blood run cold just thinking about it. A couple of hours before the game, Kansas City manager Ned Yost quietly approached Young and told him he may need the right-hander to make an emergency start.
There’s a personal situation with Edinson Volquez, Yost told Young.
Volquez’s father had died earlier that day, at home in the Dominican Republic. His wife had asked the Royals to hold the news from Edinson until after he made his start. Yost honored that request, though with today’s social media, you never know. That’s why Yost put Young on notice. Had Volquez somehow found out and not been in an emotional state to pitch that night…
“I know the pain he’s going through right now,” Young said that night after working three scoreless relief innings in a 5-4 victory that Volquez did start. “It’s hard. It’s really hard.
“I feel his pain.”
That Young is even here on baseball’s biggest stage is one of those remarkable hardball stories that the game keeps delivering. The Pujols line drive, in May 2008, was gut-wrenching to watch. As Young was helped off of the field, blood gushed from his nose. The ball struck him on the bridge of the nose up toward the forehead, fracturing his skull.
He came back. But then came the shoulder problems.
It took three years before doctors finally zeroed in on the cause: thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition in which a rib pinches off a nerve running to the shoulder. So he underwent surgery to remove part of the rib, missed all of 2013 and then went 12-9 with a 3.65 ERA in 30 games (29 starts) for Seattle in 2014.
Still, he went unsigned as a free agent this spring until early March, when the only interested team, the Royals, called.
What most clubs didn’t know was that Young, for the first time in years, finally was able to spend an entire winter focusing on his workouts instead of his rehab.
When Royals general manager Dayton Moore approached Yost with the idea of signing Young after spring training started, the manager couldn’t believe the pitcher was still available.
“At that point, I liked the starting pitching we had,” Yost said. “But I remember Bobby Cox saying in Atlanta, you can never have too much starting pitching. Get as much as you can, because over the course of the year you’re going to need it.”
Along with Kendrys Morales, Alex Rios and even pitcher Franklin Morales, Yost said Young “was one of the great signs we had.”
Young worked both out of the rotation and as a reliever for the Royals this year, going 11-6 with a 3.06 ERA in 34 appearances (18 starts). Among pitchers who worked at least 100 innings, he handcuffed opposing hitters to the lowest batting average (.202) in the American League and the fourth-lowest in the majors.
Also among pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched, Young allowed the fourth-fewest hits per nine innings (6.64) in the majors.
“Gosh, it’s hard to say what he’s meant to us,” Royals pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “He’s been worth his weight in gold.
“There are a lot of reasons we won the division and we’re here today, and one big reason is Chris.”
All of this with a fastball this season that averaged 86.4 mph and a slider that he mixes in with the sneakiness of a cat burglar.
“This is a guy who, more than anybody I’ve ever been around, trusts his stuff and throws every pitch with conviction,” Eiland said. “He thinks he can get an out with every pitch.”
“Thinks” is the key word in that last sentence. Young earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics at Princeton University, graduating in four years despite playing both baseball and basketball. His senior thesis was a study of the impact of Jackie Robinson on racial stereotypes in the realm of media.
While Young doesn’t throw lightning bolts like the Mets staff, he is aces at outfoxing hitters and nailing specific locations. Plus, the fact that he’s 6'10"—tied for the second-tallest player in MLB history (behind only Jon Rauch, 6'11")—leads to much deception as he delivers the ball. From the perspective of hitters, the ball is released closer to the plate than they are accustomed to and from different angles.
“The way he throws, I think he hides the ball very well,” Mets shortstop Wilmer Flores said. “That’s why he gets outs.”
On Saturday, while he will feel the power of his father’s presence in the stadium, Young also will have a rooting section in the seats: his wife, Liz, the granddaughter of Lester Patrick, namesake of the NHL’s Patrick Division and the Lester Patrick trophy, and their three children, Cate (seven), Scott (five) and Grant (three). His college coach at Princeton, former big leaguer Scott Bradley, also will be there.
In fact, Bradley, whose nine-year MLB career spanned from 1984 to 1992, flew to Kansas City for Games 1 and 2 at Young’s request.
“Oh, man, he’s so positive and optimistic,” Young said. “He was a great fit both for my basketball and academics. He accommodated me any way he could.”
How much does Bradley mean to Young? Seventeen years after recruiting him, the pitcher's middle son is named, in part, for the Princeton coach.
Now here he is, forever Young, a great fit with the Royals.
“In spring training what really stood out was the focus and determination,” Young said of his teammates. “These guys had a hunger I didn’t quite expect. I thought these guys went to the World Series last year and maybe they’re going to rest on their laurels a little bit, and it was the exact opposite.
“I came in and said, 'Whoa. These guys want to win the World Series.' And they expect to and believe they can. It had a different feel than any spring training I had been at with any other club. It was evident from day one to me.”
Just like Young, they are not waiting around. They are looking to make something happen.
Just don’t ask about his velocity. He's heard it all before.
“I could care less about velocity,” said that man who could author the book on it. “I care about results.”
Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
Relentless Royals Can't Wait to Swing—and They Rarely Miss
Oct 30, 2015
Kansas City Royals' Eric Hosmer hits a two-RBI single against the New York Mets during the fifth inning of Game 2 of the Major League Baseball World Series Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
NEW YORK — One by one, these hitters who make up the relentless Kansas City Royals lineup are reducing this game to its smallest common denominator.
"You can't get hits unless you put the ball in play," third baseman Mike Moustakas said following the Royals' 7-1 Game 2 rout of the New York Mets late Wednesday night, which gave Kansas City a 2-0 lead as this World Series heads back to Queens.
No truer words were ever spoken.
The Royals are winning in a completely different way than the dominant New York Yankees of 1998 to 2000 and the Boston Red Sox of 2004. Those beastly champions worked hard at driving the rival starting pitcher out of the game by grinding out at-bats and running up pitch counts.
Their goal was to exhaust the poor starter by midgame and then expose the soft spots in their opponent's bullpen.
Kansas City's approach behind Moustakas, Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer and Co. could not be more different.
And in case the Mets thought the Royals were kidding by, say, Escobar's penchant for swinging at first pitch fastballs, well, whoops. When he ripped Matt Harvey's first-pitch fastball for an inside-the-park home run to start Game 1, the only questions were how and why Harvey delivered exactly what everyone in the baseball world knew Escobar was looking for.
"I'm going to continue to be aggressive," Escobar said after delivering a triple in Game 2.
With the Royals having built a lineup with no weak links, every inning starts out as a potential rally. They are like kids at a birthday party taking whack after whack at a pinata. Maybe it is the next whack that will make the candy fall out.
"We definitely like to swing early in the count," Hosmer said. "I think we have good game plans going in."
He noted that the American League Central Division has several hard throwers, such as Cleveland's Corey Kluber, Detroit's Justin Verlander and the Chicago White Sox's Chris Sale, which helps the Royals stay tuned up. He praised hitting coach Dale Sveum's aggressive philosophy, which encourages the Royals to stay coiled and ready.
"All of that makes for a good fastball-hitting team," Hosmer said.
But while it is one thing to be aggressive, it is quite another to pull that off while remaining a not good but great contact-hitting team from top to bottom.
The Royals struck out less than any other team in the majors this season, just 973 times. The Royals, in fact, were the only team to finish with fewer than 1,000 strikeouts.
This is what Jacob deGrom, the hottest pitcher going this October, ran into in Game 2.
In obtaining only three swings-and-misses, deGrom had his lowest total of the season. He reached several two-strike counts but finished with just two strikeouts.
Whatever he threw, and deGrom has four above-average pitches in his quiver, he could not put the Royals away.
"As a hitter, if you can spoil a pitcher's pitch and fight it off and do that until they make a mistake, then you [can] try to do damage on it," Hosmer said. "It can definitely get frustrating as a pitcher, especially if you're hitting spots and guys aren't budging and they're not swinging at a curveball down that goes in the dirt or fighting your curveball up that's in a money spot.
"I think the approach of a good hitter is to foul off pitchers' pitches until they make a mistake."
As the beleaguered Mets are seeing, Kansas City has a lineup stocked with good hitters.
The American League average of 7.53 strikeouts per game in 2015 narrowly missed the record of 7.54 set in 2013. In fact, the AL average for strikeouts per game reached 7.33 in 2012 and has remained at least that high in each of the next three years (7.51 in 2014).
Those four seasons are the only times since the advent of the AL in 1901 that team strikeouts per game were at 7.0 or higher.
"Playing in this big ballpark (Kauffman Stadium) we've had to do some things, had to change our swings a little bit," Moustakas said. "Not trying to go up top all the time [at high pitches, attempting to hit them a long ways], just trying to get base hits and make solid contact.
"Our motto in this clubhouse has always been keep the line moving, and we do a pretty good job of that by getting the next guy up."
Center fielder Lorenzo Cain said: "We're not afraid to hit with two strikes. A lot of guys cut their swings down to put the ball in play, and see what happens.
"We'd rather put it in play because a lot of [our] guys can run, and you never know…"
Still stung by their Game 7 loss to San Francisco in last year's World Series and chapped that the highly respected Baseball Prospectus projected them to go 72-90 this season, the Royals set out from their first workout this spring to do some damage. Not just intent on proving they were no one-hit wonder, the Royals envisioned all spring and summer returning to exactly where they are now.
They are a no-nonsense team that is all about results. Ben Zobrist learned that as soon as he stepped into the clubhouse after the Royals acquired him from Oakland in July.
The Royals and Athletics waged an ugly, three-day brawl in Kansas City in April, and though Zobrist did not instigate it and was not in the middle of it, things could have been really awkward when he landed in Kansas City.
Instead, they weren't.
"Not really," Zobrist said. "I talked to [Kansas City closer] Wade Davis about it a little bit because Wade is a former teammate in Tampa Bay, and he said as ugly as some of that was early in the season, it kind of brought the team together. It kind of made them become more of a team.
"For me, nobody ever made me feel uncomfortable about that situation. We just kind of laughed about it and that was it."
Laughed, and then went out to hit, of course.
What else?
Keep the line moving, they say. And they are.
On the ropes against Houston in the division series, a Royals team that trailed in each of the five games roared back to win.
Against Toronto in the championship series, same approach.
"We've won the same way every time," said veteran Jonny Gomes, who is not on the playoff roster after being acquired from Atlanta in August. "That being said, it's not a fluke."
Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
Johnny Cueto Deals Royals the October Ace They Coveted with Game 2 Masterpiece
Oct 29, 2015
Kansas City Royals pitcher Johnny Cueto celebrates after Game 2 of the Major League Baseball World Series against the New York Mets Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, in Kansas City, Mo. The Royals won 7-1 to take a 2-0 lead in the series. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Good thing, too, because Cueto gave up 15 runs in those two games.
Doesn't matter now, does it?
Doesn't matter that Cueto had a 4.76 ERA in his 13 regular-season starts for the Royals. Doesn't matter that he can crumble in big-stage starts on the road.
All of the above may well hurt his case as a free agent this winter, but all that counts for the Royals is that the two times they really needed Cueto, he delivered, and he delivered big.
He beat the Houston Astros in the decisive Game 5 of the division series, giving up two hits in eight innings. He beat the New York Mets in Wednesday night's important Game 2 of the World Series, giving up two hits in nine innings in a 7-1 victory at Kauffman Stadium.
As my buddy C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweeted going into the ninth inning:
Between Game 5 of the ALDS & 8 IP, 2 H, 1 ER performance tonight, Royals got what they wanted in the Johnny Cueto trade
He's right. With their big lead in the American League Central, the Royals didn't need Cueto to pitch like an ace in the regular season. They've needed him to be an ace two times—in Game 5 against the Astros and again on Wednesday.
He delivered both times. Sure, he mixed in a bad one in Game 3 of the ALCS, giving up eight runs to the Toronto Blue Jays.
But as Royals manager Ned Yost said Wednesday, "He's had one bad start and two tremendous starts."
If the bad start at the Rogers Centre raised some questions, it also provided the Royals with one very important answer as they planned their World Series rotation. Cueto pitched Game 2, and he'll pitch Game 6 if the series gets that far.
Neither of those starts would be on the road.
So when Cueto ran into trouble in the fourth inning Wednesday, walking two of the first three batters he faced and getting frustrated with Mark Carlson's strike zone, he didn't hear the sing-song "Kway-toe! Kway-toe!" that haunted him in the 2013 Wild Card Game in Pittsburgh or last week in Canada.
All he heard was catcher Salvador Perez, reminding him to just follow his mitt.
"Keep aggressive, please," Perez repeated after the game to Fox's Erin Andrews.
Cueto gave up a run on Lucas Duda's bloop single, but the Mets didn't get another baserunner until Cueto walked Daniel Murphy with two out in the ninth. He finished off the first complete-game two-hitter in the World Series in 20 years (Greg Maddux threw the last one in 1995) and just the second in 44 years—and the first World Series complete game by an American Leaguer since Jack Morris' 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of 1991's Fall Classic.
It wasn't the best game Cueto has ever pitched. He had a two-hit shutout against the Washington Nationals in July, with 11 strikeouts. He had a three-hit shutout last year, when he was a 20-game winner with a 2.25 ERA.
He was one of two true aces on the trade market in July. The other was David Price, who went to Toronto and had a great regular season followed by an underwhelming October.
Cueto got his underwhelming out of the way early on in his stay with the Royals, back when they didn't need him. He always knew what the real goal was.
"That's what they brought me here for was to help win a World Series," Cueto said. "And that's what I've worked for."
The Royals have a real chance now to win a World Series. It's certainly not over—Mets fans will point out that their 1986 champions lost the first two games at home, and Royals fans will remember that their 1985 champs lost the first two—but Cueto's performance Wednesday has the Mets in a real bind as they head back to Citi Field.
Yes, the Mets are going home, but they've already lost two games started by Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom. The two real kids in the rotation, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz, start the next two contests. Both are talented, but with neither likely to pitch deep into a game, the pressure will be on the Mets' shaky middle relief and on the slumbering offense.
Game 2 was the one in which the pitching matchup supposedly favored the Mets, with the dominating deGrom against the inconsistent Cueto. Instead, Cueto was the one who dominated.
"This is why they got him," Pete Rose said on the Fox postgame show. "This is the Johnny Cueto we knew in Cincinnati."
This is the Johnny Cueto the Royals traded for. No matter what, that trade now stands as a total success.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
Ben Zobrist May Need to Go on Paternity Leave During 2015 World Series
Oct 27, 2015
Kansas City Royals’ Ben Zobrist has some words for plate umpire Ron Kulpa after he was called out looking in the first inning of a baseball game, Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
The Kansas City Royals will face the New York Mets in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night, but they could be without one of their key postseason contributors for some of the Fall Classic.
Infielder Ben Zobrist may go on paternity leave at some point during the best-of-seven showdown. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports noted that Zobrist's wife, Julianna, is due to give birth to the couple's third child on Nov. 10.
Rosenthal also shared some comments from the second baseman: "If she goes into labor and I'm playing, she's not going to tell me. Obviously if something happens, something dangerous, I'm gone—that's the priority. She said if I'm playing and everything is fine, she's probably not going to let me know until after the game."
Zobrist reiterated if his wife goes into labor during a game, she won't call. Barring an emergency, he won't leave the team in New York City, per Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star said if his wife
If the World Series goes the full seven games, the decisive contest would occur in Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday, Nov. 4.
According to Mike Axisa of CBSSports.com, there is no paternity list in the postseason, which means the Royals would be forced to play with a 24-man roster if Zobrist were to miss any games.
Kansas City acquired Zobrist before the trade deadline from the Oakland Athletics, and he hit .284 with seven home runs and 23 RBI in 59 games for his new team. He has been even better in the postseason, with a .326 average, two home runs and 10 runs in 12 games, and he is known for his ability to play multiple positions.
The Royals added rookie infielder Raul Mondesi Jr. to their postseason roster in part so they have something of an insurance policy should Zobrist miss any time. While the 20-year-old Mondesi has never appeared in a game above Double-A, he is fast enough to cover ground in the middle infield in place of Zobrist and make an impact on the basepaths, as he had 19 steals in 81 minor league games this year.
If Mondesi does appear in a game, he will become the first player in the modern era to make his MLB debut in the World Series.
Edinson Volquez Named Game 1 Starter for Royals in 2015 World Series
Oct 26, 2015
Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Edinson Volquez throws against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning in Game 5 of baseball's American League Championship Series on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2015, in Toronto. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Playing against a Mets team stacked with young power pitching, Kansas City will counter with veteran Edinson Volquez for Game 1, according to Mike Axisa of CBSSports.com. He'll be matching up against New York's Matt Harvey.
Volquez went 13-9 this season with a 3.55 ERA in his first year with the Royals. This postseason, though, he hasn't quite been on his game, going 1-2 with an ERA of 4.32.
The Royals will be hoping he can repeat his performance from Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, where he shut out the Toronto Blue Jays over six innings, allowing two hits and striking out five.
Now that Royals manager Ned Yost released his rotation, here is a look at the probable pitching matchups for the World Series:
New York Mets
Game
Kansas City Royals
Matt Harvey
Game 1
Edinson Volquez
Jacob deGrom
Game 2
Johnny Cueto
Noah Syndergaard
Game 3
Yordano Ventura
Steven Matz
Game 4
Chris Young
TBA
Game 5
TBA
TBA
Game 6
TBA
TBA
Game 7
TBA
It was better late than never for Yost to release his rotation. He even called himself a "punk" on Sunday for not disclosing his arms for the Fall Classic, per David Brown of CBSSports.com.
Giving Volquez the start for Game 1 gives Johnny Cueto two possible starts at home, one in Game 2 and another in Game 6 if necessary. Cueto's last start on the road was in Toronto during Game 3 of the ALCS, where he allowed eight runs in just two innings before being pulled.
The Royals' back end of the rotation features a 24-year-old Yordano Ventura, who burst onto the national scene during last year's postseason, and Chris Young, a 36-year-old veteran who is on his third team in four years. They'll have to step up their performances if they want to outduel a New York Mets team that has a 2.81 ERA this postseason.
If they can't keep up with New York's arms, the Royals are going to be in trouble this World Series.
Royals' Bats Show KC Is More Than Just a Bullpen in Ousting Blue Jays in ALCS
Oct 24, 2015
KANSAS CITY, MO - OCTOBER 23: Ben Zobrist #18 of the Kansas City Royals celebrates after hitting a solo home run in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game six of the 2015 MLB American League Championship Series at Kauffman Stadium on October 23, 2015 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
On Friday, the Kansas City Royals punched their second consecutive World Series ticket on the strength of closer Wade Davis, who picked up the win with a gutsy, rain-delayed, 1.2-inning performance.
So that's the obvious angle: The Royals win the pennant again thanks to their dominant, shutdown relief corps.
But that's too simplistic, and it misses an essential part of the picture. These Royals can hit, up and down the lineup. And it's their bats, even more than their bullpen, that propelled them to the Fall Classic this time around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sqAyI05vnA
Just ask the Toronto Blue Jays, who were supposed to be the offensive juggernaut coming into the American League Championship Series.
The Jays had their moments, including a pair of booming home runs by Jose Bautista in Game 6. But overall, it was the Royals who got the big knocks and put up the gaudy run totals.
The Royals outscored the Jays 38-26 in the ALCS, and they out-homered them 7-6, after Toronto paced all of baseball in both categories in the regular season.
And they did it with an enviably balanced attack. Really, that extends back to their division series win over the Houston Astros as well, when Kansas City scored 25 runs and hit eight dingers.
Shortstop Alcides Escobar has led the charge from atop the lineup, going 17-for-44 with three doubles, a pair of triples and nine runs scored in the postseason.
Alcides Escobar has been an October spark atop the lineup.
Ben Zobrist, who has supplanted Johnny Cueto as the Royals' most impactful trade-deadline acquisition, hit his second home run of the postseason in Game 6 and is hitting .326 overall.
Designated hitter Kendrys Morales has four home runs and 10 RBI in the playoffs after a Comeback Player of the Year-worthy campaign.
Catcher Salvador Perez, who is banged up as any everyday catcher would be this time of year, has four home runs. Eric Hosmer, Alex Rios, Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain have all gone deep. And Cain flashed his incredible wheels Friday, scoring from first on a Hosmer single in the bottom of the eighth with what proved to be the winning run.
The knocks are contagious, as Zobrist explained, per FSKC's Joel Goldberg:
Ben Zobrist on the Royals hot offense, top to bottom: "Everybody feels dangerous right now."
Yes, the nearly hour-long rain delay and, again, Davis' exemplary outing will be remembered as the stories of the game.
The story of October, however, might well end up being K.C.'s lumber.
Sure, the Royals have flexed power in the playoffs after hitting the second-fewest home runs in the Junior Circuit. But what these Royals have done well from Opening Day is put the bat on the ball. They struck out fewer times than any club, and they're experts at making contact and letting good things happen, as they often do.
That high-contact approach is serving them especially well in the postseason, as Grantland's Ben Lindbergh outlined:
When you watch the Royals foul off two-strike pitches and string together singles-based five-run rallies off pitchers like David Price, then switch channels and see the strikeout-prone Cubs swinging through the Mets' high-octane offerings, you might wonder whether contact makes K.C. unkillable.
"I don’t think we've changed our approach," skipper Ned Yost said prior to Game 6, per Jeff Deters of the Topeka Capital-Journal. "We bunch together some hits and it looks really, really nice. And we've won some games because of it. That’s the type of offensive team we have."
The power is nice, in other words, but it's not essential. This team can also bleed you to death with a single here, a single there and a double over there. Add its disruptive speed, and you've got the makings of an unexpected, unorthodox juggernaut.
KANSAS CITY, MO - OCTOBER 23: Lorenzo Cain #6 of the Kansas City Royals rounds third and heads home to score in the eighth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game six of the 2015 MLB American League Championship Series at Kauffman Stadium on October
There will be plenty of time to parse the upcoming World Series matchup between the Royals and the NL champion New York Mets. For now, suffice it to say that New York's stable of power arms—Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard—will provide a worthy challenge for K.C.'s confident swingers.
Kansas City's stellar 'pen, which boasts the lowest postseason ERA (2.85) of any team that advanced to the championship series round, is still a potent weapon, as is its defense, which rated as the best in baseball, per FanGraphs.
But if the 2015 Royals succeed where the 2014 version came up agonizingly short, it could well be because they hit better and score more than everyone else.
You probably didn't see that coming, even if you're a diehard in a threadbare George Brett jersey.
Then again, this is October, when expecting the unexpected is the name of the game. And when the Royals sure can swing it.
All statistics current as of Oct. 23 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
Royals' Under-the-Radar Offense Outshining Star-Studded Blue Jays
Oct 20, 2015
Kansas City Royals' Ben Zobrist, left, celebrates his two run home run with Eric Hosmer against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning in Game 4 of baseball's American League Championship Series on Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, in Toronto. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
The American League Championship Series, as advertised, has showcased a potent, high-scoring offense. The surprise? It's been the Kansas City Royals, not the Toronto Blue Jays, who've done the bulk of the mashing.
With a 14-2 drubbing of the Jays at the Rogers Centre on Tuesday, the Royals took a 3-1 ALCS lead. Kansas City will have a chance to finish off Toronto on Wednesday and punch a second straight ticket to the World Series.
If the Royals keep swinging it like they have been, they might not lose again this October.
Royals manager Ned Yost suddenly has an offensive juggernaut at his disposal.
That's an understatement. After Wednesday's deluge, the Royals have scored 58 runs this postseason, inlcuding 33 in the ALCS alone. (Yes, two of those runs came against Blue Jays infielder-turned-emergency pitcher Cliff Pennington, but they still count.) They pace the playoff pack in batting average and OPS, as well, and have clubbed 12 home runs.
In fact, they're on the verge of history, per ESPN's Stats & Info:
Royals are hitting .331 in this series. The highest BA by any team in a best-of-7 LCS is .318 by the 2007 Red Sox
To put a finer point on it, Kansas City has been a juggernaut, which is a word many—including yours truly—previously attached to Toronto.
The Blue Jays, after all, are the team that led MLB in runs, dingers and a host of other offensive categories in the regular season. And they've got the fearsome sluggers, from Edwin Encarnacion to Jose Bautista to American League MVP hopeful Josh Donaldson.
The Royals were no slouches at the plate, finishing seventh in runs scored, but they hit the second-fewest home runs in the Junior Circuit.
Speed, defense and situational execution were supposed to be K.C.'s calling cards. So far, the high-scoring act is working just fine.
Alcides Escobar has been a force at the top of the Royals' lineup.
As befits the Royals, their attack has been balanced. Shortstop Alcides Escobar (15-for-36 with three doubles and two triples) has been a force at the top of the lineup. Second baseman Ben Zobrist (13-for-36 with four doubles and a home run) has supplanted Johnny Cueto as Kansas City's most important trade-deadline addition.
Designated hitter Kendrys Morales, who has gone from offseason castoff to bona fide basher, has hit four home runs and collected 10 RBI. Catcher Salvador Perez has three homers and five RBI. Outfielders Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon and Alex Rios have also gone deep, as has first baseman Eric Hosmer.
In short, the hits have come from everywhere, offering opposing pitchers few, if any, chances to catch their breath.
What's fueling this offensive outburst?
The Royals are very good at putting the bat on the ball and struck out fewer times than any big league club in the regular season.
[W]hen you watch the Royals foul off two-strike pitches and string together singles-based five-run rallies off pitchers like David Price, then switch channels and see the strikeout-prone Cubs swinging through the Mets' high-octane offerings, you might wonder whether contact makes K.C. unkillable.
Some of the Royals' ALCS success has come because of Toronto's poor pitching, of course. Ace lefty David Price, comeback kid Marcus Stroman and veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who took the loss in Game 4, have all looked dubious for the Jays.
Royals designated hitter Kendrys Morales has bashed four home runs and picked up 10 RBI this postseason.
But this is more than a pitching staff melting down. This is a lineup rising up. Kansas City has been more patient, drawing 24 walks in nine games after finishing dead last in the AL in that category in the regular season.
"They spoil a lot of pitcher counts, and they work the count back into their favor quite a bit," Dickey told reporters prior to Game 4, per MLB.com.
And they hit it when it counts, which is all that matters in the small-sample crucible that is the MLB playoffs.
The Royals came agonizingly close to a trophy last year before running into the Madison Bumgarner buzz saw. This time around, they appear determined to let no hurler stand in their way.
The Blue Jays aren't cooked yet. They came back from a 2-0 deficit against Texas in a best-of-five American League Division Series. And their bats could go off at any time, though they'll have to do it against Royals right-hander Edinson Volquez, who blanked them for six innings in Game 1 and will take the hill in the potential clincher Wednesday.
Right now, it'd be unwise to bet against hot-swinging Kansas City, which in Game 5 will face Marco Estrada, the same pitcher it tagged for three runs en route to a 5-0 victory in Game 1.
Whomever they face, the Royals keep making contact and, with increasing regularity, sending balls over the fence.
The ALCS hasn't played out as advertised, but so far, Kansas City's offense couldn't have drawn it up any better.
All statistics current as of Oct. 20 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
Oct 19, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) reacts during the third inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game three of the ALCS at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports
It has been the same problem all season long, and it was the No. 1 concern going into this postseason.
The Kansas City Royals’ starting pitchers had been inconsistent at best. From Opening Day though the end of the season, that has been the case. October baseball’s bigger stage and brighter lights have done nothing to improve the outlook over the team’s first eight playoff games.
Johnny Cueto continued that trend with a historically miserable outing in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series against the Toronto Blue Jays. Cueto, Kansas City’s supposed ace, failed to get through the third inning as the Blue Jays eventually won an 11-8 shootout Monday night at Rogers Centre.
The Royals now lead the best-of-seven series 2-1, but with a rotation as shaky as theirs and the next two games in Toronto’s hitter haven, the Royals have only a tenuous grasp on the series.
Cueto has been the team’s model of inconsistency since it acquired him prior to the July non-waiver trade deadline. At the time of the deal, it seemed the Royals added the necessary piece they were lacking to win a World Series.
Through Cueto’s first four starts as a Royal, he was marvelous. He allowed six earned runs in 30 innings (1.80 ERA) and opposing hitters had a .257 OBP and .590 OPS. Indeed, the defending American League champs had their No. 1 starter.
Since then, though, Cueto has been a mystery. The Royals have no idea how he will pitch from start to start, and his 6.82 ERA in his next 12 starts, including this postseason, shows why. Aside from the eight runs in two innings he allowed Monday, he also walked four and struck out only two.
Royals manager Ned Yost stunningly said he never considered taking Cueto out before he did, five batters into a six-run third inning.
“It was the second inning,” Yost told reporters in his postgame press conference. “I was hoping he would find a way just to make an adjustment.” ESPN's David Schoenfield and the Kansas City Star's Sam Mellinger chimed in:
From @ESPNStatsInfo: Cueto allowed 11 runners, tied for most in postseason history, 2 IP or fewer. But Yost didn't leave him in too long!
When asked if he wonders which version of Cueto he will get every time he takes the mound—Cueto pitched eight innings and allowed two runs in his Game 5 start in the AL Division Series—Yost backed his guy.
“No. I don’t,” Yost told the reporters on site. “His next start, he’s going to work on some things on the side and I’ll guarantee you if he makes another start in this series he’ll be good.”
Dan Plesac, former major league pitcher and current MLB Network analyst, wasn’t having it.
“I don’t buy it,” Plesac said on the network’s postgame show. “It’s been too up and down. Too much volatility.”
That quote could be directly aimed at the rest of the rotation, not just Cueto.
Yordano Ventura and Edinson Volquez, the team’s other two starters to this point in the playoffs, have not injected enough dominance into their starts to believe either can pick up Cueto’s slack and lead the group.
Volquez has been good this postseason, allowing three runs in 11.2 innings (2.31 ERA), but he also had a 4.89 ERA in his final 35 innings of the regular season.
Ventura has given up nine earned runs in his 12.1 postseason innings (6.57 ERA) and opponents have a .909 OPS against him. He also had his share of late-season inconsistency before the playoffs started, posting a 5.32 ERA over four starts before allowing just one run over his last two regular-season turns.
Entering this postseason, the Royals’ rotation had a 4.34 ERA during the regular season, among the worst in the majors and the highest among postseason teams. It figured to be a weakness, or at least a question mark, for them when the playoffs started, and now we know it to be one. The starters’ 5.85 ERA in eight playoff starts is the worst among teams that have played more than one game.
“Eight runs should be enough to win a ball game,” Yost told reporters, “but tonight it wasn’t.”
That is the risk this rotation runs right now. The team has to walk on eggshells no matter who has started because the rotation’s inconsistency rarely gives it an easy walk through the other club.
Then again, none of the Royals starters would fit that billing. Sure, they are capable of having a strong outing the way Volquez did in Game 1 when he threw six shutout innings. But this is also a group capable of losing when its offense scores eight runs. When that happens, it negates the team’s one true advantage—the back of its bullpen—because it becomes a non-factor when the team is behind by so much.
The Royals have the lead in this series. However, going forward, including into Tuesday’s Game 4, the starting pitching invokes at least a sliver of doubt every time it takes the ball. And ultimately, that could be the part of the team that wakes up the Royals from their World Series dreams.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
