Congratulations to the Kansas City Royals on winning the World Series. It was their first World Series in thirty years and a year after their heart-breaking loss in Game 7. Mrs. Compliance Building is from Kansas City and ecstatic about the club’s turnaround.
The Mets faltered last night because of emotion. Starting pitcher Matt Harvey stymied the Royals for eight innings. Instead of replacing him with the closer, Mets coach Collins let Harvey convince Collins to keep him in for the ninth inning. As a Red Sox fan, I remember two instances of that same mistake.
Harvey walked Lorenzo Cain, who stole second, and the scored on a double by Eric Homser. Harvey was pulled and Jeurys Familia quickly became the first man in baseball history to blow three saves in the World Series.
The 2015 Royals are a team about taking chances. After making it to third on a ground ball, Homser took the gamble and made a mad dash from third on a ground ball with one out. Not expecting this, the first baseman threw wide to home, allowing the tying run to score. Then, KC took over in extra innings.
The Royals won eleven games in the 2015 postseason. In seven of them, they trailed by at least two runs at some point, then came back to win. No team had ever done that.
It was not about big bats hitting home runs to come back. It was small-ball: stealing bases, bloops, gap-balls and line-drives.
The Royals were about taking small risks. Not “swinging for the fences.” In part, the team was designed to deal with its market. It can’t afford the big payroll of the Yankees or the Red Sox. It developed its talent in its farm system. It didn’t sign big names. It formed its own culture and groomed the players within its system.
It’s not a big risk, big reward club. It’s a small-ball club that just won the World Series.
“1989 Kansas City Royals away uniform” by Amineshaker
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
