Kansas City Royals: 11 defining moments from past decade

Highlight of the Decade

In 2015, the Kansas City Royals finally broke through to win the franchise’s second World Series championship, defeating the New York Mets in five games.

In that fifth game, in New York, the Royals trailed 2-0 heading into the top of the ninth inning. A loss wouldn’t end the series for the Royals, but it would extend the series, keeping alive the Mets for at least another day.

The Royals, though, had other ideas. Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey infamously returned to the mound that night and immediately walked Lorenzo Cain. Eric Hosmer, the next batter, doubled home Cain, cutting the lead in half and sending Harvey to the dugout. But Hosmer wasn’t done.

Mike Moustakas grounded out next, but in the process, Hosmer moved to third. With one out, Perez came up and hit a grounder to first base. That’s when all hell broke loose.

First, Lucas Duda–another future Royal–stepped on first for the second out when he realized Hosmer had dashed toward home plate. Duda, it appears, panicked, and threw offline to the catcher, allowing Hosmer to slide into home, tying the game at 2-2.

Even though the game lasted until the 12th inning, when the Royals took an insurmountable five-run lead, that mad dash by Hosmer seemed to cement the World Series. The Mets, so close to a Game Six, looked defeated while the Royals strongly felt, if not at least knew, that they would win it all that evening.

Lowlight of the Decade

So far, Salvador Perez has showed up in both the Biggest Hit of the Decade as well as the Highlight of the Decade. As previously mentioned, baseball is a fickle game, because Perez makes yet another appearance here in the Lowlight of the Decade.

Now, before you read any further, know two things. First, I’m talking about on-the-field lowlight. I’ll get to the organization’s saddest moment of the decade, which took place off the field, on next page. Second, while the Royals suffered their share of losses this decade, no individual moment from those lost seasons really sticks out.

But this one does. Game Seven of the 2014 World Series, with the Royals down 3-2 and the tying run (Alex Gordon) just 90 feet away, into the batter’s box walked Perez to take on San Francisco Giants ace southpaw Madison Bumgarner.

A base hit ties it; a home run wins the World Series; an out loses the World Series.

Perez, who’d already played hero earlier that postseason against Oakland, seemed destined to do it again. Unfortunately, it didn’t come to pass, as Perez, on a 2-2 pitch, popped out in foul territory to the third baseman.

After 29 years of wandering baseball’s no-man’s land, the Royals were so close to capturing yet another title. It just wasn’t meant to be–at least not that season.