The Kansas City Royals always found a way to win throughout these 2015 Playoffs, like how they overcame a 6-2 deficit in Game 4 of the ALDS (American League Divisional Series) against the Astros with just two innings to go, a game which had they lost, they would’ve been eliminated from the playoffs all together. But the biggest example of how resilient this Royals team was this year was how despite trailing at some point in all five games against the Mets, they managed to win 4 of those games for a convincing, and dominating 4 games to 1 series win over the favored New York Mets. Going into the series, 10^th grader Austin Walrath predicted that, “The Mets will win in 6 games.”

Game 1 was a thriller in which the Royals won 5-4 in 14 innings, that included plenty of riveting action from the very first pitch Matt Harvey threw in the bottom of the 1^st inning to the leadoff man, shortstop Alcides Escobar. Escobar hit a long fly ball into left center field, and center fielder Yoenis Cespedes couldn’t make the grab and ended up kicking the ball into the left field corner, which resulted in the first World Series inside the park home run since 1903.

In Game 2, the Royals won by a final score of 7-1, in which Johnny Cueto pitched an absolute gem. Cueto went the distance pitching a complete game while giving up just 2 hits and 1 earned run, becoming the first American League pitcher to throw a complete game in the World Series since Jack Morris did so in 1991.     Game 3 was a completely different story on the other hand, as the Mets bats came to life in a 9-3 victory. David Wright and Curtis Granderson homered in the game, as the team roughed up starting pitcher Yordano Ventura. A solid pitching performance by Noah Syndergaard who gave up 3 runs over 6 innings of work also helped the Mets take Game 3.

The Royals, in a game that didn’t have much contribution from either teams starting pitchers, won game 4 by a final score of 5-3. The Royals starter Chris Young lasted just 4 innings, while Mets starter Steven Matz went only 5 innings. The game will most be remembered by an error by Daniel Murphy in the Top of the 8^th inning, that sparked a 3 run Kansas City rally that gave them the 5-3 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

In the final game of the series, Game 5, the Mets came into the top of the 9^th inning with a 2-1 lead needing those final 3 outs to force a Game 6 back in Kansas City, but Mets manager Terry Collins made a decision that would come back to haunt him.

Matt Harvey was throwing a great game through 8 innings, and after being told by the Mets’ pitching coach that the team was going to put closer Jeurys Familia into the game to get the save, he went to Collins and begged him to let him finish the game out. Collins conceded and let Harvey come out for the 9^th inning, but after Harvey walked the first batter of the inning and gave up a double to the second batter, Collins yanked him from the game and brought in Familia. The tying run in the 9^th inning came after Royals catcher Salvador Perez hit a chopper towards shortstop Wilmer Flores, that third baseman David Wright cut in front of him to field, threw to Lucas Duda at first to get one out, and then Eric Hosmer with risky and heads up base running darted home from third base and scored the run following an errant throw home by Duda. The game would go to extra innings, where the Royals would score 5 runs in the 12^th inning and win by a final score of 7-2 to clinch the franchises 2^nd ever World Series title, and their first since 1985.

In the end the Royals won this series because they were much more fundamentally, and defensively sound than the Mets. Key errors by guys like Daniel Murphy, Yoenis Cespedes, and Lucas Duda did the Mets in during this series. When asked his final thoughts on the series, my dad, Brian Misiewicz said, “…The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win the series.” That statement could not have been truer, as the Royals played fundamentally sound baseball, while the Mets couldn’t overcome their defensive blunders. For the most part however, the games were exciting and both teams are great ball clubs. Congrats to the Kansas City Royals on their first title in 30 years.