Mets and Royals: Some facts you might not know

With the 2015 World Series already underway, I doubt many people predicted a Mets-Royals matchup at the beginning of the season. Here are some interesting facts about both teams in the World Series.

This is the first World Series to feature two teams from the expansion era

Here’s a fairly mind-boggling fact: This is the first ever World Series to not feature an original team from MLB’s inception. In other words, every World Series up until this one has featured a team from when the first World Series was played. Before 1961, the league featured the same 16 teams it had when the first World Series was played in 1903. The MLB is a league steeped in tradition, so it may not surprise you to know that it didn’t expand until it had been a league for over 60 years. In 1961, the Los Angeles Angels and Washington Senators (now the Texas Rangers) joined the American League.

A year later, the New York Mets and Houston Colt .45’s (now the Astros) joined the National league. The expansion was completed in 1969 when the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Pilots (now the Milwaukee Brewers) joined the National League, and the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals) and the San Diego Padres joined the National League. Since then, these teams have enjoyed their share of successes, but this is the first year where a World Series will be contested between two teams that didn’t exist when the first World Series was played in 1903.

Both teams have had some great luck in the World Series

If you’re a Mets fan who was old enough to watch the 1986 World Series, then chances are you’re familiar with Bill Buckner, and probably have wanted to thank him for essentially handing the Mets their victory that year. Buckner, then playing for the Boston Red Sox, allowed a slow roller off the bat of Mookie Wilson to roll through his legs in a tie game in the bottom of the tenth inning, with his team leading the series 3-2. Thanks to his error, the Mets scored the winning run, and went on the win game seven.

A year earlier, it was an all Missouri matchup in the World Series, as the Kansas City Royals were matched up against the heavily favoured St. Louis Cardinals. Much like the Red Sox-Mets series a year later, a single play would turn the series around. With the Cardinals leading 1-0 in the ninth inning of game six, Jorge Orta led off the inning with a grounder to first, as Cardinals first baseman Jack Clark flipped to pitcher Todd Worrell who was covering first, it appeared that Orta was out, however, first base umpire Don Denkinger famously called Orta safe, citing that Worrell was off the bag. Replays would later show that Worrell foot was indeed on the bag, and the Royals would go on to rally to win the game and tie the series at three wins apiece. The Cardinals then imploded in game seven, losing 11-0, allowing the Royals to win their first and only World Series.

The Royals nearly got even luckier in last year’s World Series

The Royals run to the World Series in 2014 was an unlikely one to say the least. They didn’t even lose a game in the playoffs until game one of their series with the San Francisco Giants. The Royals pushed the series to a seventh and deciding game, but faced a deficit in the ninth inning, and were pitted against the Giants’ best pitcher: Madison Bumgarner, who was at the end of an historic pitching tear. Bumgarner had retired 14 consecutive batter until, with two outs in the ninth inning, Alex Gordon lined a pitch to centre field.

It looked to be a routine single, but Giants centre fielder Angel Pagan misplayed the ball, allowing it to roll to the wall. On top of this, left fielder Juan Perez also had trouble with the ball at the warning track, before finally being able to throw the ball back to the infield. Gordon very nearly had a chance to score the tying run on what would have been the most unlikely inside the park home run of all time, but was stopped at third by his third base coach. Salvador Perez would eventually pop out to end the inning, but it very nearly was another extremely unlikely World Series comeback for the Royals.

These teams have only played each other nine times before this

You’d think they would have played more times considering interleague play has been around since 1997, but the Mets and Royals are two of the most unfamiliar teams to each other in the entire MLB. In fact, the Mets have only played one team fewer times than the Royals, that team being the Chicago White Sox. The Royals meanwhile, have matched up with the Mets the fewest times in their franchise history, tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. Only time will tell if either team has an edge in the series, but watching two teams play that are so unfamiliar with each other will be fascinating to say the least.