Kansas City Royals: A horror movie for each season of the past decade
By Cullen Jekel
2015
Kansas City Royals: 95-67; Won AL Central; Won ALCS; Won World Series over New York Mets
Movie: 1979’s Alien
The Alien movie franchise includes six movies, half which are horror movies: the original, which I’m going to talk about here; 2012’s head-scratching Prometheus; and 2017’s Alien: Covenant, which sucked, and you shouldn’t see, because it’s super bad and stupid.
In the final stages of Alien, Ellen Ripley, as portrayed by the incredible Sigourney Weaver, decides to take on the menacing killing-machine Xenomorph. Now, keep in mind, this particular Xenomorph has killed every one of Ripley’s shipmates, from bursting through John Hurt’s chest to doing whatever the hell it did to Tom Skerritt’s Dallas.
Yet, Ripley decides enough is enough. She gets the ship’s resident cat (a questionable call, IMO) and then sets to blow up the Nostromo, with the Xenomorph inside it.
After falling in Game 7 of the 2014 World Series, the Royals came out with a vengeance in 2015. Playing some of the most exciting baseball that I can recall, the Royals killed other teams with speed, timely hitting, some dominant pitching, and an other-worldly bullpen. Without question, the Royals were the best team in baseball during the regular season.
But all great plans hit speed bumps. For Ripley, it was the Xenomorph sneaking its way off the Nostromo and onto her escape pod. For the Royals, it was the Houston Astros.
The Royals, due to an incredible comeback in Game 4 of the American League Division Series, escaped Houston before closing out the Astros in Kansas City. Then they beat the Blue Jays in six games to capture a second consecutive pennant. Finally, the team won its first World Series since 1985 by easily disposing of the New York Mets in five games.
Ripley only had one opponent, but that thing was a formidable foe–one that Ripley finally manages to repel before going into stasis.