Kansas City Royals
People told us Kansas City wouldn’t make the playoffs. When they made the playoffs, people said they had no chance to beat the Angels. After sweeping the Angels, people said they had no chance to beat the Orioles. Now, after sweeping the Orioles, the Royals are sitting back and waiting to see which team people are gonna predict to take down them down in the World Series.
The Royals went from being the feel-good story of the MLB to setting the record for consecutive playoff wins, picking up thousands of bandwagon fans along the way (including myself).
There’s a lot of theories on how they did it. Some people say it’s small ball. Some say they’re just hot, or it’s luck. Some say manager Ned Yost is some sort of alien-genius from Planet Underdog with a proven success formula light years ahead of our time. But to me, none of those things set records. The Royals are just playing much better baseball than their opponents.
Kansas City’s pitching has been spectacular, shutting down two of the top hitting teams in the league. Their hitting has been clutch and timely. The defense has been great. They’re finding ways to win every game. It’s going to continue in the World Series; not because of luck, but because Kansas City is the better team.
– Brandon Wallace
Kansas City Royals
Cinderella stories happen in sports every now and then. It sounds unbelievable: a team that won a World Series championship and then didn’t make the playoffs once during the next 29 years is on the verge of holding that trophy up high after such a long drought.
Going into the World Series, the Royals have won 11 straight postseason games dating back to 1985, technically meaning, it’s been 29 years since they actually lost a playoff game. In addition, Kansas City has become the first team in MLB history to win its first eight games of the postseason.
After everything they’ve gone through this year, it’s hard to imagine any team other than the Royals winning the World Series this year. Truth be told, I’ve never chosen who will win a game because of their underdog status or their heartbreaking backstories. I’m not saying that’s the case now.
If you compare Kansas City to other teams like San Francisco or St. Louis in the regular season, you don’t see much of a difference in terms of their overall ranks. Throughout the postseason, however, the Royals outrank the Giants in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Put those statistics together with a team of destiny, and you have yourselves a championship team.
– Sam Dintruff
