As Royals Keep Gnawing, Reasons for Mets’ Optimism Erode

Sports Illustrated has the Mets on the cover this week. Sorry Mets fans, but you are doomed.

Given that the Royals would have won the Series easily last year if not for the Miracle of Madison Baumgardner, no Mets fan underestimated them.

Too much Royals mumbo jumbo. Going back to the end of the regular season, deGrom had pitched five quality starts in a row. He had only one streak longer than that all year. He was due to get knocked around yesterday.

Is it lost on everyone that the Royals were quite open about making Daniel Murphy (and other Mets) uncomfortable at the plate and on a number of occasions they did in fact pitch him inside and almost hit him. Rarely have the Mets' pitchers in this series tried to reciprocate. Could it be that it's one reason the Royals have been hitting with such ease? Let's try pitching the Royals inside and tight and see what happens; maybe they'll become as inhibited in the batters' box as the Mets appear to be. I'm not advocating a bean ball war here, I just feel the Mets need to level the playing field a bit and show KC some NY hospitality.

You find out something new every day. I didn't know there were World Series played without New York teams in them.

The midwest commenters in the comments section seem to believe that we NY mets fans are taken aback by how good the Royals are. Not true. Once the Royals clinched the ALCS,many fans and NY media pointed out that the Royals were the tougher opponent and many NY baseball pundits predicted Royals in 6 or 7. As a lifelong fan I am still holding out hope for my Mets but please, Mets fans are not arrogant and not oblivious. Why should we be arrogant? It was only July 30 (i think) when Justin Upton made us feel like our season was gone like the ball he parked into the seats.

Better let the writer know that the New York Mets aren't that great. Sure they beat the Cubs 4 straight, but the Cubs beat them 7 straight during the 2015 season including 2 shutouts. Watching this series I'm beginning to feel the Mets are "not so hot" anymore.

veritas in Baltimore got it right. The Mets aren't choking, the umps aren't favoring KC: the Royals are trying to win, too.

And the young Met pitchers aren't tiring (young? Harvey is 26, deGrom is 27). But it must be really frustrating to make a pitch that would have struck out a Dodger or a Cub and have it fouled off or turned into a hit.

It breaks my heart to root for an American League team, but man, the Royals are really fun to watch.

Two great ball clubs, the Mets and Royals. But methinks the Royals really do want the Series ring more. At least they play like they do. And more than any other club I've seen, they seem to have a sense of being a TEAM. One for all and all for one. Nowadays in pro sports, that is quite unusual. Refreshing even. That said, I do hope the Mets rebound and make it an interesting Series.

This Mets fan loves the way the Royals play ball. It is fair to say, however, that any one, or two of those singles through the infield could have been an out had they not been "placed" correctly. And any one of them could have killed the big inning. The odds are that you won't see that many grounders get through again. Granted they are a fabulous contact team, but in order to sweep, and perhaps win, the Royals are going to have to put more balls in the air. They can do that, we know. And they ARE like a dog chewing on the furniture. But as much as they showed us last night, they aren't going to win two more games the same way. Of course the Mets have to get to them early and big.

Just a few short weeks from Yogi's passing and "it's over" ? Really? As Yogi might've said "If they can also win two games like the Royals did, they'll be tied."

This Mets fan saw this coming last week when I tuned into the final KC-Toronto game to see what my team would be facing. It didn't take long to see that the Royals were downright ferocious. The dread had me remarking to friends:

"Uh-oh, just saw Kansas City in action for first time. They have more Daniel Murphys on their team. I may need Mr. Met to come hold my hand during the Series ... "

I predicted Royals in 5 then. I was trying to give the Mets the benefit of the doubt.

Negative? Nah, just realistic. I'm a longtime Mets fan, but I know an incredible team when I see one.

They will come home. They will conquer.

Good sports writing, except the knock on Kauffman Stadium. Kauffman is a baseball-only stadium built during an era where multi-sport "cookie-cutter" stadiums were commonplace. It is considered one of the best examples of modernist stadium design.

And with a mere 250M renovation, it continues to impress because of this timeless modern design. Though, technically the sixth oldest in baseball. That's quite a feat for which both designers and taxpayers can be proud.

Again, it's about the Cubs. What a totally ridiculous headline.

Let's not forget, the Cubs in the NLCS weren't the Cubs that they had been previously. They played like the Mets are playing now. So, yes the Royals are not the Cubs, but maybe the better headline is 'The Mets are not the Mets'

Now it can be told: The Mets are choking. New Yorkers, really late and just arriving to the party, are wondering why they went.

Go to a Nets game, plenty of great seats available.

Mets in 6. WHOOOOOOOOOO!

Slight change to prediction:
Mets in nine.

I don't have a general problem with this article but I do disagree with the notion that the Royals are some seeing-eye-single hitting team that is just getting lucky. The Royals lead all teams in the postseason in homers. They've hit 2 more than the Mets and they out hit the mighty Blue Jays in home runs in the ALCS. Sure KC hitters make great contact but most of the line-up can leave the yard at anytime as well.

Kauffman is one of the best parks in baseball. 1970's throwback, because they didn't stuff the place with high-roller suites and sell upper deck tix for $180 like Yankee Stadium? Or fully lacking character like Citi Field?

The "1970's" reference is actually quite insulting. Brings to mind the cookie cutter trend of that era: Riverfront, JFK, Busch, Kingdome, Three Rivers, Veterans Stadium. I don't see any of those stadiums currently being used in MLB.

From the NY Times (10/20/86):

"The wonderful world of the Mets, a happy and heady place in baseball all year, crumbled a bit more last night before 55,063 wondering fans in Shea Stadium.

The Boston Red Sox pummeled Dwight Gooden and three other pitchers for 18 hits, swatted out a 9-3 victory and beat the Mets for the second straight time in the 83d World Series."

We got 'em right where we want 'em!

"New Yorkers being New Yorkers, the quality of the Royals registered as a thunder strike of revelation for them. As the Royals kept ratcheting open the game, eventually to a 7-1 lead, my fellow provincials began to type disbelieving words."
You can say that about any fans. I have been a Mets fan since 1963 and most of them have been lean years. I think you have us confused with the team in the Bronx. I'm happy we are in the World Series and I do think the Royals are a great team. If it were not for a hanging slider on Tuesday, the series would be tied. Let's not write the obituary until the series is over and take it easy on New York.

One factor left out in this article - the umpires. The Royals had a lot of friction with the umps during the playoffs with the Jays - and it looks strangely like the umps are now favoring the Royals. That "call" about David Wright on second was wrong - the tie goes to the runner, not the tagger. And we've watched Wright and Daniel Murphy argue with the home plate ump in KC - so many balls being called strikes when it "happens" to be the Mets at bat. Harvey also had a lot of strikes called "balls" - are the umps afraid of the Royals players, cause it looks like it. It is so interesting that the Royals-Jays games were so lopsided in the scores - very see-saw. We expect the same to happen now at CitiField, where the umps will be better, the food will certainly be better, and the vocalist for the Star Spangled Banner will mercifully be better (who was that Evans person last night, and did she know that she was not auditioning for Cats?). The Mets have it in them to win, and we expect them to - even if the Royals are intercepting the catcher's signals (as the Fox commentators suspected last night). Terry Collins and team have the gravitas to turn this around, so let's go Mets!

Yes, the "rubes" out here in the Midwest can play ball. The Mets are toast and nobody out here is crying about it...

Brilliant headline. It turns out some of the best baseball is played in cow pastures. (with apologies to Abner Doubleday)

I have loved reading Michael Powell's world series reports. The writing is crisp and clear with wonderful and perfectly apt metaphors sprinkled throughout. These are easily the best sports columns I have read in a long time. Somewhere Red Smith is smiling.

It's not like the Mets aren't trying. They're trying as hard as the Royals. Baseball is a game where even the best team beats the worst team only 60% of the time, and even the worst team blows out the best team once in a while. Don't make too much out of any one game, or even any two games. As the Red Sox showed the Yankees in 2004, even a 3-0 lead in games can be lost, because each game is a new game. Each game starts 0-0.

So buck up! The Mets still have an infinitely greater chance of winning this World Series than 30 other teams, including the Yankees, who have a 0% chance.

That said, the Royals are a better team, have been all year, and having won the first two games are very likely to get two more wins before the Mets can get four.

I saw Cueto completely dominate the Astros in game 5 of the ALDS and then, in his next start, come completely undone early against the Jays. I don't believe for a second that it was because of him giving pitch signs, as was suggested by the broadcasters last night. He is just a hot/cold kind of pitcher depending on whether he's hitting his spots, and the Mets got the hot one. It was also an uncharacteristic stumble for the otherwise solid deGrom, but there were not that many hard-hit balls. It's just that the Royals wreak havoc once they have a baserunner or two.

I expect the upcoming games to be much more like game 1, where two closely matched teams that never give up scratch and claw for every run. I think the Mets now understand how opportunistic a team the Royals are, and that they need to get to Ventura early. Playing at home should help a lot with that.

Love me some October baseball...

The vapid Mets offense has been exposed. Unless Murphy is bashing homers with the occasional runner on when the missile is launched, times are tough. Cespedes, the team's August and September savior, looks like a flailing panhandler at the plate. (His lackadaisical fielding offends. It's not professional. That ball of Escobar actually hit him in the leg while he waived at it with his glove. Weird and second rate.)

Every good thing must pass, and it sure looks like the Royals have done their homework on Mr. Murphy.

Make no mistake, these Royals are a very, very good team. They hit and hit, run the bases aggressively, and rarely give you an extra out with their fielding.

The Mets simply can't say that, at least so far in this series.

Frankly the word "sweep" comes to mind.

A great excerpt from New York Times sport columnist Michael Powell’s column today, which pinpoints EXACTLY what I’ve known for the past 40 years:

"New Yorkers being New Yorkers, the quality of the Royals registered as a thunder strike of revelation for them. As the Royals kept ratcheting open the game, eventually to a 7-1 lead, my fellow provincials began to type disbelieving words.
“So … it turns out the Royals are good,” one New Yorker wrote to me.
Knock us over with a feather. This was a classic New York epiphany in which we suddenly realize that good, quality things occasionally happen outside our metropolitan region, including baseball teams that beat our own."

New York sports fans rarely give the other team credit; if a New York team loses, they always say it’s because the New York team, which was supposed to win, screwed up, NOT because the opponent played well. Part of that sense of entitlement, especially with Yankee fans.

Hey, New York sports fans….here’s a newsflash…..THE OPPONENT IS ALWAYS TRYING TO WIN, TOO!!!!!!

New Yorkers oversleeping on the fact something exists beyond the Hudson isn't new. And eventually waking up is good, particularly when the nightmare isn't likely to end. I chuckled at a Yankee fan earlier this year talking about the Royals' chances against the Yanks in an upcoming series. His point: "you're the Royals and we're the NY Yankees - 27 World Championships". Of course no current Yankee except A-Rod was around for any of those titles. No worries for most New Yorkers - ignorance is bliss about most things not you...until it's too late, as it may be for the Mets. Outside your cozy fog the '15 Royals had the AL's best record, won at home, won on the road, won in every kind of yard, won every which way, beat every kind of team playing every style of ball. Their bullpen is elite, they have skilled multi-tool position guys for days, play hard, never quit and are the best definition of a baseball "team" you'll find in these times. Sounds corny to a New Yorker, I'm sure - how quaint. Until you're 0-2 in the Series, your two top aces have been handled like a JFK baggage monkey treats your luggage, you can't get reimbursed for the damage and no one will 'splain it to you. Arrogance isn't a virtue with us, we knew the Mets were good before they got here. But we've also been watching the Royals do their thing and beat just about everyone, including every No. 1 starter you can think of - over and over. So, yeah, the Royals are that good New York...good morning...deal with it.

The Royals has World Series experience and the home field. Now these Mets have some World Series experience of their own. Mets in 7....

Baseball columns don't get better than this one!

Thank you for a report that's objectively accurate and at the same time so feelingly expresses the angst, hopes and fears of all of us who are life-long Mets fans.

I wanted the Mets and the Cubs in the World Series because I was rooting against the Royals and the Blue Jays. In April the Royals took it upon themselves to be the bad boys of baseball. When they felt wronged by the A's, Hererra threw a 100-mph fastball behind one of the A's batters. After he was tossed and as he walked off the field, Hererra pointed at his head, as if to say "I'll get you the next time where it really hurts." The Royal had run-ins and fights with other teams as well.

If the good guys win, the Series belongs to the Mets.

hopefully, the mets haven't succumbed to the "gee, we made it to the world series!!!" syndrome. KC can be beat, but not with pure and steady heat. you have to keep them off balance, because they have great plate discipline and don't beat themselves with any frequency.

First and foremost, do not dig into our CUBS. The Royals are their own team. Just because NY Mets can't beat them, don't compare them to our beloved CUBS. Have we not suffered enough that you have to mention our team. That being said GO ROYALs beat the heck out of the NY METS they can wait another 30 years for all we care!

Is it so much that the Royals aren't the Cubs, or that the Mets aren't the Mets? Which is to say, who exactly are the Mets? Are they the team that transformed itself in the last third of the season (yet kind of backed into the division championship), and then rode a magic carpet into the World Series? Or are they the team we saw last night, which reminded us of darker days in earlier in the summer (minus the untouchable starting pitching)? Have they just had a bad couple of games, or have they finally met their match? Maybe the pressure is finally getting to them. We knew they had their weak spots, but supposedly the Royals had theirs too. So far, none of those have been apparent. Coming back home could reinvigorate them, but unless they win all three, it'll be a tall order to win the last two in KC. My heart tells me there's still hope, but my brain is saying they're too much up against it. We'll find out soon enough. It's been a more gratifying season than we ever imagined. Only one team gets to win in all.

I don't get the article. Of course the Royals aren't the Cubs -- the Royals have actually won a World Series (against my Cardinals, sadly).

And, they were in the Series last year, did you think that was a mistake? or did New York City just not pay attention because there wasn't a New York team in the event?

yes Virginia, there is a world outside nyc. always amuses me that a city that considers itself worldly ain't. it's like the frog that lives its whole life in a well and believes it's the whole world. thank sky fairy Toronto lost to Kansas city. heaven knows what would've been written the jays won two consecutive champeenships a generation ago. too long ago to count as having happened.....

It's over. These Royals are good, and they aren't going to lose a World Series again. The Mets may take one, or two, in NYC, but the Royals will get at least one and, if they don't close the deal at Citi Stadium, return home to win it at Kaufman. Go KC!

Headline says it all. Trying to rationalize that it was an incredible year just to get here. Also, thinking that Thor can turn it around. If Cespedes continues to struggle, will fans still clamor to sign him? Lots of side stories. Wright looks like he's 50 years old. Cuddyer is the reincarnation of Jason Bay. Hey, it was an incredible year just to get here.

Yes, there really is something west of the Hudson River...

Cespedes has gone from Super Nova to Black Hole; the third baseman from Wright to Wrong; the various Left Fielders to Left Outs and yet they could (should?) be tied 1-1 if Alex "Murphy" Gordon doesn't somehow hit a 700' home run off the typically impeccable Familia.
Is Harold Reynolds' suggestion of a pitch stealing conspiracy plausible? How does a team square up that many balls from eite pitchers?
On to Citi Field with the Mets' faithful rocking the building and no DH.
Mets in 7.

Great comments by writer Michael Powell:

"New Yorkers being New Yorkers, the quality of the Royals registered as a thunder strike of revelation for them. As the Royals kept ratcheting open the game, eventually to a 7-1 lead, my fellow provincials began to type disbelieving words.
“So … it turns out the Royals are good,” one New Yorker wrote to me.
Knock us over with a feather. This was a classic New York epiphany in which we suddenly realize that good, quality things occasionally happen outside our metropolitan region, including baseball teams that beat our own."

I'm glad Mike confirmed what I've known for 48 years of watching sports. New York sports fans rarely give the other team credit; if a New York team loses, they always say it’s because the New York team, which was supposed to win, screwed up, NOT because the opponent played well. Part of that sense of entitlement, especially with Yankee fans.
Hey, New York sports fans....here's a news flash for you, that applied to ALL sports: THE OTHER TEAM IS ALWAYS TRING TO WIN, TOO!

"Knock us over with a feather. This was a classic New York epiphany in which we suddenly realize that good, quality things occasionally happen outside our metropolitan region, including baseball teams that beat our own."

Hence the schadenfreude throughout the Midwest this morning. :-)

Nothing like drubbing the Cubs to give a team a city a case of overconfidence. Better luck next year.

The Mets season is done. They are losing to a better all around team. It does turn out that the Royals are not the Cubs after all doesn't it? As a Cubs fan it was tough to watch the Mets sweep my team. But now the Mets fans are getting that exact same taste. It turns out just having good young pitching or good young hitting is not enough to win it all. You have to have a good all around combination. Both the Mets and the Cubs need to focus on filling those gaps next season and it will be a fun 2016 playoffs when they meet again.