Connector Staff
Alex Gordon, the Kansas City Royals’ Gold Glove left fielder, on Oct. 29, 2014, was stranded at third base in the bottom of the ninth, giving the San Francisco Giants the World Series win. The Royals entered 2015 not wanting to come so close to complete victory and letting the other team have it.
So, this year, on Nov. 1, in Game 5 of the World Series, that young, passionate Kansas City team won it all.
On the backs of World Series MVP Salvador Perez; NLCS MVP Alcides Escobar; an emotional pitching performance by Edinson Volquez, whose father passed away prior to his Game 1 start; Game 5’s closing Pitcher Wade Davis’s lights-out consistency; and steady contributions by every other player, star or not, led to both Kansas City’s postseason success and ultimate World Series win, and, in total, their success as a ball club for the past two-plus seasons.
The mantra of the World Series winners has been to “keep the line moving;” for the next man up to bat to make his contribution; to get a hit or on base somehow, the next man advances him, and repeat that until the box score loads up with Royals runs.
Their approach to roster building, of loading up with all-contact, mostly-speedy guys, lacking in overwhelming power and plate discipline, would figure to fail in all other places besides Kauffman Stadium, even though their home-road splits in 2015 (51-30 at home, 44-37) attest to plain dominance over being great only at home. Perhaps there is something deeper to them, with beloved Ned Yost at the helm, in terms of chemistry and brotherhood, reminiscent of the Red Sox’s 2013 “Band of Bearded Brothers” phenomenon and subsequent World Series title.
Whatever the secret formula is to the Royals’ consistently great play over the past two-plus seasons, whether it lies in chemistry or a systematic, unique approach in getting the most out of their players, this year’s World Series win is significant in two main aspects: one, for finally winning it all after coming so close in 2014, and two, for the Royals to be such a young team, that has gone from one of the worst in baseball in the last decade, to now being the premier baseball powerhouse.
To defeat the consensus best pitching staff in the MLB, in the New York Mets, in those five games, is to announce to the world that what the Royals are and have been is not, and will not be, a fluke. Even if their methods are different from the rest of baseball, and even if they are hated or play the game with their own, distinct flair, does not mean that any criticism will stop them from expanding on this success. The only thing that could stop their present success and prestige is another team stepping up to the plate.
To reach Game 7 in 2014, and to win it all this year in five games, is to show the league, and every baseball fan, that the Kansas City Royals are not going anywhere any time soon. In fact, they will just be at the top, waiting for whatever team can come close, and working their way up even higher, to be even better.
