It has been 205 days since Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, the day where everyone has a chance to win it all. 2,461 games later, all but two teams’ chances of taking the Commissioner’s trophy have vanished. Today’s game will be the start of the 111th World Series, as the New York Mets go on the road to play the Kansas City Royals for the first two games.
While Kansas City was expected to make a deep postseason run by the end of the year, the New York Mets have defied belief, improbably winning the National League East division over the Washington Nationals, the preseason favorite to win it all. The Mets last won the World Series in 1986, after coming back from a three-to-two game deficit to beat the Boston Red Sox.
After beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in an NLDS that went all the way to the final game five, the Mets were able to sweep the Chicago Cubs, making this the 107th consecutive season in which the Cubs have lost.
The Mets have the most valuable player of the postseason on their side in Daniel Murphy, who set a MLB postseason record by hitting a home run in six consecutive playoff games. Combined with the arms of Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, and Jacob deGrom, the Mets have potential to take home the trophy with their strong pitching as well as their timely hitting.
The Kansas City Royals come into the final series on a vastly different note, reaching the World Series after being widely regarded before the season as the favorites to win the American League pennant.
They did have their struggles in the playoffs, however, as the underdog Houston Astros were six outs away from beating the Royals and advancing to the ALCS, leading 6-2 as the teams started the eighth inning of game four. But Kansas City overcame the obstacles, scoring seven runs in the last two innings of the game, winning game five of the series, and taking care of the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS to make it to the final leg of the playoffs.
The Mets feature a strong starting rotation that will be contested by Kansas City’s big bats, including players such as third baseman Mike Moustakas, left fielder Alex Gordon, and ALCS MVP Alceides Escobar. This series could go either way, so we’ll have to wait and see if New York’s pitching can trump Kansas City’s hitting.
Prediction: Mets win in five games, 4-1.
SCHEDULE:
- Game 1: Tonight
- Game 2: 10/28
- Game 3: 10/30
- Game 4: 10/31
- Game 5*: 11/1
- Game 6*:11/3
- Game 7*: 11/4
*if necessary
All games can are scheduled to start at 5:07 PT, and can be seen on FOX.
