KC Royals: Ranking the 2015 Playoff Comebacks

Number 3: World Series Game 1

Final Score: Royals 5 – Mets 4

This game was full of story lines. Maybe one of the biggest came only moments before first pitch as reports surfaced that Edinson Volquez had lost his father earlier that same day. Speculation swirled as to whether or not Volquez knew what had happened as he gave the Royals a quality start through six innings.

Esky led off the bottom of the first in grand fashion hitting an inside the park home run and it looked like the Royals were on their way. The Met’s got on the board putting up one run in each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. Perhaps lost in the shuffle of all the great plays in this game was a diving grab on the line by Moustakas, that prevented a fourth run from crossing the plate.

Perhaps lost in the shuffle of all the great plays in this game was a diving grab on the line by Moustakas, that prevented a fourth run from crossing the plate.

Matt Harvey settled in until the bottom of the sixth inning when he gave up a lead-off double to Zobrist. Cain Followed up with a single and Hosmer drove him home with a sac fly. Moustakas came to bat with two outs and Lorenzo Cain, the tying run, on second base. Moustakas hit a single up the middle and tied the game and it looked as if the Royals would come back yet again.

The Mets fortunes turned in the eighth inning when Eric Hosmer did something that Eric Hosmer doesn’t do. He missed an easy ground ball that would have ended the inning but instead it allowed Juan Lagares to score. Shades of Bill Buckner washed over the Royals gold glover as it appeared the Mets were imitating their 1986 team.

Terry Collins went to his shut down closer, Jeurys Familia, who hadn’t blown a save since July. Alex Gordon, already a hero in Kansas City strode to the plate in a situation that every young baseball player dreams of. His team down by one and needing a hero, Gordo jumped the quick pitch attempt by Familia and hit a bomb to dead center.

Esky took advantage of a banged up David Price and reached on an error to lead off the 14th inning. Zobrist singled sending the tying run to third. With nobody out and runners on the corners, the Mets intentionally walked Lorenzo Cain to get to Hosmer. Hosmer could’ve been offended, but instead relished the opportunity to make up for his mistake. As baseball so often does, a situation was created where Eric Hosmer had a chance to go from goat to hero. He didn’t hit a home run. He didn’t even get a base hit. But his sac fly saw him flip his bat anyways as the Royals walked it off in a crazy game one.

Next: Houston...You Have a Problem