The Kansas City Royals have three chances to end their 30-year world title drought, beginning with Sunday night’s Game 5 of the 2015 World Series.
Having trailed into the eighth inning of two of their wins this series, the Royals could just as easily be down 3-1 as opposed to up by that same margin. The New York Mets have to be kicking themselves for getting in this position, but they’ll have one last home game at Citi Field to attempt to get back into the series.
Let’s take a look at everything to know for Game 5.
Game 5 Info (Royals Lead 3-1)
Date/Time: Sunday, November 1, at 8 p.m. ET
TV: Fox
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Game 5 Preview and Latest Comments
It’s safe to say the Royals have become masters at the art of winning the close game.
In the Mets’ lone victory in this series, they took it to the Royals and won by a wide margin of 9-3. Of course, Kansas City has one lopsided win as well, but its other two wins have been quite improbable.
After coming back late in Game 1 and putting together a similar effort in Game 4, the Royals added to their many wins this postseason that came in surprising fashion, as SportsCenter noted:
Coaches can teach hitting. They can teach good pitching. One thing, however, that only comes with experience—or is just hard-wired into certain players—is the ability to pull out the tight games.
Royals manager Ned Yost knows his team has that, as he told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick.
“They’re as cool as cucumbers,” Yost said. “They never panic because they’ve been through it before, and they know they’re capable of doing it again. It’s just something they believe in their heart that they can accomplish.”
If the Royals are going to end their 30-year World Series drought Sunday, it will come down to the arm of Edinson Volquez—at least early on. Volquez learned of the death of his father after Game 1, but he is back with the team to pitch Game 5.
There’s nowhere Volquez would rather be than with his teammates on the biggest stage of his life, as he told the team’s Twitter account:
Volquez will take to the mound opposite the Mets’ Matt Harvey in a rematch of a Game 1 pitching duel that saw both pitchers go six innings and give up three earned runs.
One concerning aspect for Mets fans is that Harvey has gone over the 200-inning plateau already in 2015. But while that could be seen as a disadvantage fatigue-wise, Harvey is looking at the positives, per ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin:
As a starting pitcher and being a younger guy, I think getting to that 200-innings limit is something you always look for. You kind of want to be a horse and go out there. And you look at guys who have thrown 230 innings year after year after year, that’s kind of somebody who I’ve always wanted to be. I think, obviously, after this start I’ll probably be hopefully around 215 innings or so. And that’s a good mark for me. I’m definitely happy about that.
If Harvey is going to pitch the Mets back into the series and force these teams to return to Kansas City for a Game 6, he’ll need to pitch like he’s fresher than ever against a Royals lineup that is hitting virtually everything.
The best chance that the Mets have is to get something rolling on offense in the early innings in order to allow Harvey to settle down and be comfortable enough to execute his pitches. Otherwise, the Royals’ bats could jump on him instead.
If that happens, don’t be surprised if the Royals are returning to Kansas City to celebrate a championship 30 years in the making.
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