The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets will square off in the 2015 World Series tomorrow at 8:07 p.m. ET. Game 1 in Kansas City will feature Royals' right-hander Edinson Volquez and Mets' right-hander Matt Harvey.
Here are the five things you need to know about this upcoming (and unconventional) series.
5. The winner of the World Series will snap a long drought
The Royals' last championship came in 1985. The Mets' last championship came in 1986. For both clubs, this is their third World Series appearance, but only one can snap their franchise's drought.
This World Series matchup would have made more sense on "Back to the Future Day" since these two clubs were atop their game when Marty McFly left 1985 (sorry Cubs fans).
As you already know, the Royals made the World Series last year and fell victim to the San Francisco Giants as well as their current streak of winning it all and then missing the playoffs the following season (it's been a trend since 2010). The Mets were one game away from World Series in 2006, but lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS. The last time they made it this far they lost in five games to the New York Yankees back in 2000.
Here's a cool fact from AJ Cassavell of MLB.com:
"The Mets-Royals matchup represents the seventh time in history that two teams will meet in the Fall Classic riding World Series droughts of at least 29 years. The last occurrence was in 2010, when the Giants, who hadn't won since 1954, knocked off the Rangers -- whose franchise history dates to 1961 and who remain without a title. It also happened in 2005 (White Sox-Astros), '02 (Angels-Giants), 1995 (Braves-Indians), '75 (Reds-Red Sox) and '72 (A's-Reds)."
4. These two teams have faced each other just nine times ... ever
Well, if there's any excuse to have bad blood, it can certainly be had over the next week. The Royals lead the series 5-4 with their most recent victory coming in 2013 at Citi Field, but both clubs are now completely different in many respects.
Kansas City's nine matchups against the Mets (as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies) are the fewest against any team in franchise history.
As for the Mets, they've faced only one club on fewer occasions than the Royals, and that's the Chicago White Sox, who they've seen only seven times.
If this series goes to Game 7, then the Mets and Royals would have played each other in 44% of their matchups over the span of eight days.
3. The Mets won't be facing any left-handed starters, and that's a big advantage for their left-handed hitters
New York will see Edinson Volquez in Game 1 followed by any combination of Yordano Ventura, Johnny Cueto and (likely) Chris Young. On top of this rotation not being anything special, the Mets' left-handed hitters - most notably Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, Curtis Granderson, Michael Conforto and Kelly Johnson - had a .253 batting average, .783 OPS and 77 home runs against right-handed pitchers in 1,821 at-bats. That was their best batter vs. pitcher matchup the entire season as a team.
Murphy and Granderson have been huge for the Mets this postseason (and Duda finally came alive in Game 4 of the NLCS), so this matchup only makes them more dangerous.
2. The Royals are more clutch than the Mets
This could be the difference since both of these teams were top-10 in ERA this year.
Although the Mets have shown in September and during the postseason that they possess a clutch gene, the Royals have displayed that throughout 2015. And thanks to Baseball-Reference.com, we have proof.
Here are each team's stats with two outs and runners in scoring position:
Royals - .278/.356/.430 with 243 runs scored, 16 home runs, 228 RBIs and 25 stolen bases in 647 at-bats
Mets - .209/.343/.319 with 179 runs scored, 12 home runs, 170 RBIs and 3 stolen bases in 602 at-bats
Here are their stats during games that are late and close (seventh inning or later and the batting team is either leading by one run, tied, or has the potential tying run on base, at bat, or on deck):
Royals - .257/.324/.393 with 111 runs scored, 21 home runs, 102 RBIs and 26 stolen bases in 809 at-bats
Mets - .238/.322/.348 with 116 runs scored, 17 home runs, 112 RBIs and 16 stolen bases in 931 at-bats
Although the late and close stats are somewhat comparable, the Mets have had 121 more at-bats and the Royals are still better (or very close) in each statistic.
1. Game 1 of the World Series takes place on Oct. 27, which is a memorable date for both teams
Another cool history lesson from Cassavell:
"The Mets won their last title on Oct. 27, 1986, defeating the Red Sox in Game 7. Exactly one year earlier, the Royals clinched their most recent title with an 11-0 rout of the Cardinals in Game 7."
Could these franchises be any closer in terms of their history? The Mets came into the MLB in 1962 and have two World Championships, four NL pennants and eight playoff appearances while the Royals came into the MLB in 1969 and have one World Championship, three AL pennants and nine playoff appearances.
The World Series will start on the exact date each team clinched their last title.
If that's not a precursor to a historic Fall Classic, then I'm not sure what is.
