Kansas City proved to be the best team in baseball, but they were also the most resilient. The Royals were impossible to put away. Ask the Astros. Or the Blue Jays. Or especially the Mets. Kansas City never gave in and was never out of it. Games 1 and 5 are the prime examples of that.
It'll take some getting used to, this whole Royals winning the World Series thing. But the fact that they were so bad for so long is why they're here today. All of those high draft picks came through the system together, and they all got to the Majors at the same time. And Hosmer, Gordon, Moustakas, etc., are all still fairly young. It seems unlikely that the Royals will be able to keep this team together once free agency beckons, but they've still got another couple of years where they'll be a force.
This team was built perfectly. They play old-fashioned baseball. They manufacture runs. Kansas City hit a grand total of two home runs in the World Series, and one was on the first pitch thrown in the first game (and that didn't even leave the ballpark)! They're aggressive on the bases and force you to make mistakes. They foul everything off. They play rock-solid defense. Their starting rotation might not be full of big names, but it does the job its supposed to do. Getting to that awesome bullpen, which is by far the biggest weapon they've got.
Just like the Mets were simply the better team in the NLCS, the Royals were simply the better team in the World Series. And that bullpen was one of the many reasons why. Kansas City's bullpen was lights out. Other than Franklin Morales getting lit up in Game 3, the Royals bullpen allowed a total of two runs in the series, and only one of those was earned. And this series included both a 14-inning game and a 12-inning game.
Ned Yost only needed his starter to go six, and he trusted everybody in his bullpen. That was the biggest difference in the series. The only relievers Terry Collins trusted were Bartolo Colon and Jon Niese, who are the other two Mets starters. Addison Reed appeared in every game, but the only true reliever that Collins seemed to have any confidence in was Jeurys Familia. And Familia set a record by blowing three saves in the World Series (although, in fairness, the one in Game 5 was not his fault)!
The Royals can thank their dominant bullpen for the upcoming parade through the streets of Kansas City, but something has to be said about their never-say-die attitude, as well. It really is remarkable how you could never count this team out. Tom Verducci was obsessed with the swing-and-miss stat during the series, but what it proves is that the Royals were going to make you work for every out. And those long at bats early came into play late, where their clutch hitting was ridiculously impressive. I think it was seven comebacks from at least two runs down in their 11 playoff wins. In the World Series, they outscored the Mets 15-1 from the seventh inning on (which also speaks to the strength of the bullpens).
You can also give credit to that solid defense. Eric Hosmer, Alex Gordon and Salvador Perez are all Gold Glove winners, and Alex Rios won one when he played center field in Toronto. Hosmer made two errors (and got bailed out each time) in the series. The rest of the team made zero. The Mets? They committed six, which led to four unearned runs (Kansas City also scored a run on a passed ball in Game 3).
Salvador Perez has caught more games over the past two seasons than anybody in like 50 years or something like that. Yet Perez wasn't on the field when the Royals clinched it. They pinch ran for him in the top of the 12th, and Jarrod Dyson scored what proved to be the Series-winning run. As a result, the only inning he didn't catch in the Series was the final inning of the final game. But as Harold Reynolds noted, Drew Butera catching that inning meant every Royal played in the World Series.
That includes Christian Colon, whose first at-bat in a month resulted in the Series-winning RBI. It also includes 20-year-old Raul Mondesi, Jr., who looked like the bat boy when they panned to the dugout. Mondesi made his Major League debut in Game 3, becoming the first player in history to debut in the World Series (I need clarification on that rule, I thought you had to already be on the 40-man, which Mondesi was not). They don't have any "superstars" (although Hosmer and Perez are close). What they do have is a brilliant team full of good players that's awfully fun to watch.
Maybe that's why the writers had trouble selecting an MVP. Had the Mets won, it would've been Curtis Granderson without question. But with the Royals, everyone contributed. The decision was much harder. They ended up choosing Sal Perez, likely because of his team-high eight hits and .364 average.
My choice would've been Eric Hosmer, though. Yes, everyone was involved. But Hosmer's the one who was literally in the middle of everything. He had only four hits (and hit .190, which is probably why it wasn't him), but every one of them was big. If Hosmer was up with somebody on base, it was a safe bet he'd drive him in. He led the team with 6 RBIs, and I don't remember what the difference was exactly, but one of FOX's favorite graphics was the one that showed how much higher Hosmer's average was with runners on than with the bases empty. And let's not forget he scored the biggest run of the series. On a groundout. With the infield in. To tie Game 5 with two out in the ninth (after driving in the Royals' first run of the game with a double). That's an MVP in my book.
I'm sure Eric Hosmer doesn't care that he wasn't the MVP of the World Series. All he wanted was a ring. It's the only thing the Royals wanted since last October. Well, now they've got it. And I don't think anyone would be surprised to see them get another one next year. A Royals dynasty? It doesn't seem that far-fetched at all.
Oh, and who do they get their rings against on Opening Day next season? The New York Mets. Talk about motivation for the visitors, who've shown every indication that they'll be back themselves. Who knows? Maybe the 2016 Mets will do what the 2015 Royals did. They've got nothing to hang their heads about. The Mets got to the World Series ahead of schedule. They just ran into a Kansas City buzz saw that wasn't going to be denied.
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