Almost exactly 12 months ago, Salvador Perez stepped to the plate in Game 7 of the World Series. It was the bottom of the ninth, there were two outs, the Royals were trailing by one and the tying run stood on third base, 90 feet away.
You know what happened next: Perez popped a Madison Bumgarner offering into foul territory, Pablo Sandoval squeezed it and the San Francisco Giants celebrated in front of a crestfallen Kauffman Stadium crowd.
So close, and yet so far.
This year, the Royals stormed into the playoffs on a mission, with the bitter taste of unfinished business lingering in their mouths. Now, they’re champions after defeating the New York Mets 7-2 Sunday night at Citi Field to claim the franchise’s first Commissioner’s Trophy in 30 years.
There are heroes littered across the roster. There’s Edinson Volquez, who overcame the death of his father to pitch two gutsy games. There’s Alcides Escobar, the light-hitting shortstop who transformed into a quasi-Reggie Jackson. Or how about forgotten utility man Christian Colon, who broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 12th inning, in his first at-bat of the postseason?
No one, however, better embodied the Royals’ never-say-quit attitude than Perez, who won a well-deserved World Series MVP trophy before bathing in champagne.
Yes, Perez had solid numbers in the Fall Classic, hitting .364 with a couple of doubles and two RBI. More than that, though, the 25-year-old three-time All-Star provided a backbone, a beating heart behind the dish, if you’ll allow for a little schmaltz.
As battered as any regular catcher would be this time of year, and then some, Perez kept strapping on the gear and getting in the squat, deftly handling the Royals staff—including its lights-out bullpen—night after night. He took bats off the hand, balls off the collarbone and simply refused to cry “uncle.”
That’s as apt an analogy as you’ll find for the 2015 Royals. Of K.C.’s 11 victories in these playoffs, eight were of the come-from-behind variety. In seven of those contests, they trailed by two or more runs.
In Game 5 against New York, the Royals were baffled for eight frames by Matt Harvey, the Dark Knight, who had his full array of pitches working and carried a shutout and standing ovation into the ninth.
Kansas City, though, as it has done so often, clawed back. Eric Hosmer doubled home Lorenzo Cain after Cain walked. Hosmer advanced to third on a groundout, then scored with a bit of gutsy baserunning—and an errant throw by first baseman Lucas Duda—on a soft chopper by, who else, Perez.
Perez was also a key part of the Royals’ 12th-inning rally, leading off with a base hit before being lifted for pinch-runner Jarrod Dyson, who ultimately scored the decisive run before Kansas City piled on and sent Mets fans streaming for the exits.
“It’s unbelievable,” Perez told Fox’s Erin Andrews immediately after accepting his MVP trophy. “We feel like a family here. We knew we were going to do something special this year.”
Here’s something else the Royals have known for some time now: Perez will be out there, no matter what.
According to STATS data cited by Chris Fickett of the Kansas City Star, Perez entered Game 5 having caught an MLB-record 2,713 innings between 2014 and 2015, including the postseason. Add 11 more after Sunday’s clincher.
Best of all for the Royals, Perez is signed through 2019, including a series of affordable team options that begin in 2017, meaning he’s a part of the club’s future as well as its recent, glistening past.
Back in June, the Kansas City Star‘s Vahe Gregorian highlighted what makes a big league backstop such a unique animal:
The catcher is susceptible to getting hurt from an infinite array of means and angles, from sudden bat backlashes to the grinding wear-and-tear of squatting and throwing to the bruising from blocking balls and shock of ever-looming foul tips.
That’s why the position attracts a different sort of temperament.
“He’s a bulldog out there,” outfielder Alex Gordon said, per the Associated Press. “There’s really no ball that could hurt him.”
That’s surely an overstatement. Even a guy as tough as Perez winces now and again. At the moment, though, he’s feeling no pain.
One year after coming agonizingly close to the ultimate prize, he and the Royals got there. They made it back to baseball’s biggest stage, laughing at the odds again and again. And this time, they didn’t relent.
So that’s the buzzword for this Kansas City squad—relentless. And nobody wears it quite like Sal Perez: backstop, warrior and, now, World Series MVP.
All statistics current as of Nov. 1 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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