After 30 years the Kansas City Royals have finally won their second-ever World Series. The never-say-die American League club took the Major League Baseball crown by downing the New York Mets 7-2 in 12 innings at Citi Field on November 1. The win gave the Royals a 4-1 victory in the best-of-seven final series. Kansas set or tied several records during the 2015 playoffs including eight come-from-behind triumphs. The Royals came close to ending their drought last year, but were beaten in seven games by the San Francisco Giants in the Fall Classic.

The game was the second of the 2015 World Series to go into extra innings, which is a new MLB record as the opening contest was won 5-4 by Kansas in 14 innings. The 14-inning outing was the longest in World Series’ history. The fifth game was tied in the top of the 12th when Christian Colon, who was batting for the first time in the series, hit a run-scoring single. The Royals then went on to add four more runs with Alcides Escobar hitting a run.

scoring double and Lorenzo Cain smacking a three-run double as they clinched their first championship since 1985.
New York held a 2-0 lead going into the ninth inning, but couldn’t hold onto it. Mets’ starting pitcher Matt Harvey gave up a walk and then a run-scoring double to Eric Hosmer in the ninth and was replaced by relief ace Jeurys Familia. Hosmer reached third when Mike Moustakas grounded out. He then took off for home plate on a routine groundout to third base by catcher Salvador Perez and scored when Mets’ first baseman Lucas Duda threw wildly to home plate in an attempt to tag Hosmer out. An accurate throw would have gotten the sliding Hosmer out, but that mistake tied the score 2-2 and most Mets’ fans felt the championship was lost right then and there.

The Mets made it to the World Series after posting their first winning season since 2008. They beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in five games in the best-of-five League Championship Series and then swept the Chicago Cubs in four games to win their first National League pennant in 15 years. However, the loss to Kansas means they haven’t won a World Series since 1986. Kansas got there by beating the Houston Texans in the full five games in their League Championship Series and then by taking down the powerful Toronto Blue Jays in six for the American League series.

Kansas found themselves trailing and coming back from at least two runs in seven of their playoff comebacks to set a new record. Their most memorable comeback came against Houston when they were trailing 6-2 in the eighth inning of game four and facing elimination. However, they stormed back to take the contest 9-6 and clinched the series in game five with a 7-2 win at home. Twenty-five-year-old Royals’ catcher Salvador Perez of Venezuela was named the World Series’ MVP after batting .364 in the five games.

In a slight scheduling oddity, the Royals and Mets will meet each other in their opening 2016 season series early next April when they face off in a two-game interleague showdown.