The last time the New York Mets were in the World Series, back in 2000, they faced off against their crosstown rivals, the New York Yankees as MLB odds fans can recall. This series featured a number of real oddities: the Mets’ manager, Bobby Valentine, had been ejected from a game during the season but then put on a fake sunglasses-and-mustache mask and snuck back into the dugout, earning ire from the league offices.
World Series Game 5 MLB Odds Report: The Royals Prevail
15 years ago today, Roger Clemens infamously tossed a bat at Mike Piazza https://t.co/q01zTWSJYS pic.twitter.com/yFbFA9tkpl
— Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) October 26, 2015
During the series itself, online betting aficionados, Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens broke the bat of Mets catcher Mike Piazza with a nasty pitch. The head of the bat tumbled out toward Clemens, who picked it up and threw it pretty close to Piazza. The fracas that ensued was just part of the tension of that Series, which the Yankees would win.
To go back to the last time the Mets won a World Series, you have to go back to 1986. That championship was described more as a title that the Boston Red Sox lost, though. That’s the year of the infamous ground ball that went through Bill Buckner’s legs, as a ground ball dribbled through the first baseman’s legs on a key error. Of course, the Red Sox had to make quite a few more mistakes to lose that Series, but our way is to find the easiest scapegoat and blame the loss on him.
The Royals had gone even longer without a title, their drought extending back to 1985. That was a team powered by the bat of George Brett that had been a bit of a mini-dynasty in the American League West, dueling with the Oakland A’s and the Chicago White Sox for supremacy each year. The Royals had gone to their first Series in 1980, falling to the Philadelphia Phillies, but ’85 was their year to win as they ran past the St. Louis Cardinals.
This year, though, it looked like the Mets would prevail. Their starters had the far better pedigree. While everyone knew that the Royals could hit, there is still that prejudice saying that good pitching beats good hitting.
And it almost did in Game 5. Until it didn’t. Or it sort of did. The Mets led off Game 5 with a home run from Curtis Granderson. Matt Harvey kept that 1-0 score in place for the Mets until the sixth inning, when they loaded the bases with no outs against Edinson Volquez. Yoenis Cespedes came to the plate with a chance to do some real damage on the scoreboard. Then, with two strikes, he fouled a ball off his left thigh, just above the knee, and he fell to the ground, unable to move for a few minutes. The game paused long enough for Volquez to need some warmup pitches as the trainer tended to Cespedes. Finally, he got back in the batter’s box, but it was clear that he didn’t have any stability. He lunged at a low change-up and popped a weak infield fly into the Citi Field air, limping back to the dugout. One out
Then came a sacrifice fly to make the score 2-0. Then came a groundout, and the inning was over with a minimal amount of damage. Harvey dominated the Royals until the bottom of the ninth, when he talked his manager into letting him come back out to finish the game, and Terry Collins agreed. Harvey gave up a single and a double. 2-1 Mets, and Collins came out with the hook. The Royals then grounded out, moving the runner to third with one out.
The Mets brought the infield in, and a broken-bat grounder to third (which the shortstop should have taken) provided a dilemma. David Wright looked the runner (Eric Hosmer) off and then threw to first. Hosmer took off, and the first baseman Duda wheeled and threw the ball wildly toward the plate. 2-2.
Then, the Royals did what they do best, erupting for five runs in the 12th to cement the series. Should Collins have put his closer in to start the ninth inning? Hindsight is always 20-20, but teams have managers for a reason.
