Good job by the Kansas City Royals organization keeping this one quiet. The reigning world champs still have a bitter taste in their mouth over New York Mets starter Noah Syndergaard kicking off Game 3 of the World Series by delivering chin music to shortstop Alcides Escobar.
The two MLB clubs will meet on Opening Night Sunday, April 3, and it could get heated fast.
"Perhaps it is nothing more than mind games, a ploy for intimidation. But multiple industry sources told Newsday that the Royals have been signaling their intent to seek retribution against the Mets on Opening Night," wrote Marc Carig of Newsday.
If this is true, that's some real weak sauce from Kansas City, considering they had three full games to retaliate for the Oct. 30, 2015, incident. That just goes to show manager Ned Yost's club was too scared to escalate the tension on the game's biggest stage, and they'll instead deflect the retribution to the 2016 regular season, where consequences will be much less severe.
Check out the video below:
And here were the reactions from the Royals:
The umpire didn't even issue a warning after Syndergaard's brushback, which further upholds the Royals are the biggest babies in the sport for (possibly) opting to retaliate five months later.
The Mets were just trying to set the tone, kind of like this kid from the movie "You, Me and Dupree."
This is, of course, the same Royals team that initiated a number of benches-clearing incidents in 2015, so Syndergaard merely gave them a taste of their own medicine. The first came last April when starter Yordano Ventura thought it'd be a good idea to stare down Mike Trout and then talk trash to him for no apparent reason (other than the fact that Trout tattooed a pitch off Ventura and then scored later that inning).
Then Ventura decided to taunt Chicago White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton after fielding a groundball off his bat:
Then came another altercation in Toronto where Royals starter Edinson Volquez repeatedly threw inside to Josh Donaldson and then reliever Ryan Madson followed suit (and also hit Troy Tulowitzki):
To say that those were all accidents is simply a lie. And then, of course, the benches clear after Aaron Sanchez nicked Escobar in the leg in the eighth inning because the Royals are a bunch of children.
royals need to rise above. they are fine young team. more importantly, they are wold series champs https://t.co/Lq0DnDFFLQ
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 29, 2016
Kansas City had two good seasons in the past 30 years and now they're all of a sudden the bad boys of baseball and think nobody will step to them. Well, Syndergaard did and it helped the Mets win Game 3 of the World Series. And guess what? Matt Harvey will be on the mound for the Mets Opening Night as he squares off against Volquez. Syndergaard will pitch the second game of that two-game set against Ian Kennedy.
Hey Royals, good luck retaliating against pitchers that throw close to 100 mph, while Volquez averages 93.8 mph on his fastball and Kennedy averages 91.3.
Just to remind all your Royals fans, your record since 1986 is 2,212 - 2,577. Know your role.
