Post a Comment On: Rany on the Royals

And finally, at the end of the most ridiculous project I have ever had the temerity to attempt, the five biggest Royals Moments of the last two years. Included in this set of five are…well, see for yourself.

Moment #: 5 Date: October 12, 2015 Game: 2015 ALDS Game 4, @ Houston Astros Score: Kansas City 4, Houston 6, Top of the 8th Situation: No outs, bases loaded Count: 0-1 Matchup: Kendrys Morales vs. Tony Sipp Result: E-6, two tying runs score, go-ahead runner to third base WPA: 31%
Summary: In the pinnacle of the Miracle at Minute Maid, Carlos Correa whiffs on Kendrys Morales’ double play ball, allowing the Royals to tie Game 4 of the 2015 ALDS and move the go-ahead run to third base with no outs.
Link to video: Here.

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HOLY EFFING MOTHER OF OH MY GOD WHAT THE OH MY GOD — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 12, 2015
Be honest: what emotion do you feel when you look at this picture?
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Do you feel anguish? Do you feel sympathy and compassion for the traumatic event that this poor soul is going through at the instant this picture was taken? If so, then you are a kind and considerate human being.
If, on the other hand, you feel nothing but unbridled joy, pure schadenfreude for this guy’s pain and suffering, then you are a true Royals fan. I’d like to think that I’m a true Royals fan.
If you can’t enjoy a little schadenfreude at the expense of Tony Sipp, how about this guy?
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The Governor of Texas tweeted that at 3:02 PM, during the commercial break between the bottom of the 7th and the top of the 8th. Six batters and fifteen minutes later, the game was tied.
The first five of those six batters singled, and the Royals had cut the lead in two, and the bases were still loaded, and the tying run was at second base, and there were still no outs. But I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop, and with Kendrys Morales at the plate, a rally-killing double play seemed like a distinct possibility.
And sure enough, Sipp’s 0-1 pitch was a 77 mph back-door curveball that Morales reached across the plate for, and hit a grounder straight back up the middle. If Sipp fields it, it’s probably a 1-2-3 double play and the Royals are still down 6-4. Instead it tipped off his glove, which slowed it down a little and directed it towards the shortstop side of the bag, in perfect position for Carlos Correa to turn a 6-4-3 double play. The Royals would score a run to make it 6-5, but there would be two outs and the tying run would be at third. But notice how, after the ball tips off Sipp’s glove, it deflects down off the pitcher’s mound. I suspect that this is where the ball picks up its now-infamous spin.
Correa is the closest thing we’ve seen to a young Alex Rodriguez since a young Alex Rodriguez. As a 20-year-old, he was called up in early June and in just 99 games he hit 22 home runs and stole 14 bases, hit .279/.345/.512, played good defense at shortstop and won Rookie of the Year honors. I have little doubt that he will be one of the game’s best players for the next decade, and that he will torture the Royals with his greatness whenever the Royals play Houston for at least the next six years.
And I won’t care, because more than any other opponent, he is responsible for the Royals winning the World Series. The irony is that, until Morales hit this ground ball, Correa had almost single-handedly put the Royals on the precipice of elimination.
In Game 3 of the 1985 ALCS, George Brett had what is widely considered to be the individual game performance in Royals history. He homered in the 1st inning to open the scoring, doubled leading off the 3rd and scored on a pair of fly balls to give the Royals a 2-0 lead. After Toronto scored five runs in the 5th, the Royals trailed 5-3 when Brett batted with a man on board in the 6th and tied the game with a two-run homer. And then Brett led off the bottom of the 8th with a single and scored the winning run on Steve Balboni’s two-out single. Along the way he made one of the best defensive plays of his career to throw Damaso Garcia out at the plate in the 3rd inning.
In Game 4 of the 2015 ALDS, Carlos Correa basically had the George Brett game. Correa was hit by a pitch in the 1st inning but did not score. In the 3rd, with the Astros down 2-0, he homered with two outs. In the 5th, with the Astros still losing 2-1, Correa batted with a man on first and two outs and doubled into the right field corner to tie the game. In the 7th, with the Astros now holding a 3-2 lead, Correa homered with a man aboard. He even singled leading off the 9th inning with the Astros down by three runs. Like Brett, Correa went 4-for-4 with two home runs and a double. Correa’s WPA for the game was 0.497; Brett’s WPA was 0.485.
The only thing Correa was missing was the incredible defensive play. 


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He didn’t even need an incredible defensive play, he just had to handle a tricky hop; with Morales running, Correa could have turned the double play if had tossed the ball underhand to first. 


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And had he turned the double play, the Royals would have still been down a run; when Mike Moustakas struck out next, the inning would have been over.
“But,” you say, “Eric Hosmer hit a two-run homer in the 9th inning anyway!”
“Yes,” I reply, “but if Morales had made two outs on that play, Hosmer never would have batted in the 9th, because Lorenzo Cain’s strikeout with Hosmer in the on-deck circle would have ended the game instead of just being the first out of the 9th inning.” (And this also ignores the fact that if Correa turns the double play, the Astros don’t have to turn to closer Luke Gregerson in the 8th inning, and he pitches the 9th instead of Josh Fields.)
In their franchise’s history, the Royals have had 57 plate appearances with the bases loaded in the postseason. This is the only time the batter reached base on an error. And fifteen minutes after the Royals’ season appeared over, the game was tied, the go-ahead run was on third base with one out, and their Win Probability stood at 75%. The Miracle at Minute Maid wasn’t complete, but the miracle part of the Miracle at Minute Maid was. And it completed the greatest tweetstorm I’ve ever had the privilege to write: Sports, as narrated by @jazayerli pic.twitter.com/9aTAnS8YfN — Grant Brisbee (@mccoveychron) October 12, 2015

Now all the Royals had to do was hold serve, and they would live to see another day. And, as it turned out, a lot of days after that.
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Back up the middle…OFF CORREA, ON INTO CENTER FIELD! KANSAS CITY HAS TIED IT IN THE EIGHTH!” – Matt Vasgersian.
It’s really hard to do this quote justice with mere capital letters. The shock and wonder in Matt Vasgersian’s voice is something to behold. I should make this my ringtone.
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Moment #: 4 Date: November 1, 2015 Game: 2015 World Series Game 5, @ New York Mets Score: Kansas City 1, New York 2, Top of the 9th Situation: One out, man on third Count: 1-0 Matchup: Salvador Perez vs. Jeurys Familia Result: Groundout, tying run scores WPA: 8%/28%
Summary: Eric Hosmer makes a mad dash home – and is safe with the tying run with two outs in the 9th.
Link to video: Here.

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This. Team. — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 2, 2015
“Gordon smoked a line drive that appeared it would fall in front of center fielder Gregor Blanco, but Blanco played it as if he had a chance to catch it until it was too late, and the ball skipped past him and headed to the wall. Gordon accelerated into a higher gear, and then Juan Perez, who was backing up Blanco, bobbled the ball at the wall, and for one glorious moment we contemplated the utterly unthinkable: a Little League inside-the-park “home run” to tie Game 7 of the World Series with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Just writing that sentence makes me tingle.” - Me, at Grantland, after Game 7 of the 2014 World Series.
In 2014, Alex Gordon held at third. In 2015, Eric Hosmer didn’t.
Seriously, who writes a script like this? Who produces a screenplay in which the protagonist falls just short of the perfect ending in part one, and then finds redemption and vindication in the exact same situation in part two?
Actually, that describes most of Hollywood. Which is why the sequel is so rarely as good as the original. The 2014 Royals were Rocky; the 2015 Royals were Rocky II. And Rocky II was the more enjoyable movie to watch growing up as a kid who was always a sucker for happy endings, but Rocky was the one that won Best Picture.
The difference is that the 2014-2015 Royals weren’t fiction. They actually happened. We mock Hollywood endings in Hollywood because they’re so clearly fictional. So what do you do when a Hollywood ending happens before your eyes, and it’s 100% real?
You savor it. You appreciate it. You thank God that after a generation of watching in vain, you finally got to see the team you had been waiting your entire lifetime to see.
There’s not much I can say about this play that you don’t already know about. If you want to learn more, read Tim Kurkjian’s just-written oral history of the play – which, appropriately enough, was published almost a year to the day after his oral history of Alex Gordon holding at third. As Kurkjian pointed out, “The Hosmer dash was historic: It marked the first time since Game 7 in 1960 that the tying run scored on an infield out in the ninth inning or later of a World Series game.” And I already broke down the pros and cons of Hosmer’s decision to go vs. Gordon’s (well, Mike Jirschele’s) decision to stay here. (Quick version: I agree with both decisions.)
Hosmer’s run is only worth 8% of WPA if you look at it in the box score, where the WPA is measured from the time Salvador Perez makes contact with the pitch. But, in fact, when Hosmer took off for home, Perez’s out at first base was a foregone conclusion, and if he had held at third, the Royals’ Win Probability would have dropped from 32% before Perez batted to just 12%. Hosmer scoring raised the Royals’ Win Probability to 40%, so his WPA of 28% is one of the most valuable baserunning plays in World Series history.
If the picture of Tony Sipp’s anguish doesn’t make you smile, how about this one?
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I know I should be magnanimous. I know I shouldn’t take joy in other people’s misery. But I’m sorry – this picture gets me in the funny bone every single time. And – perfect timing – the New York Times interviewed some of the principals in the picture today (including George and Leslie Brett, who you can see in the corner.)
We never did get a Little League inside-the-park “home run” to tie Game 7 of the World Series with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. But a year later, we did get a runner on third going home on a routine ground ball to the third baseman, tying Game 5 of the World Series with two outs in the ninth. If that doesn’t make you tingle, well, I left out the best part: The Royals would go on to win the game, and with it, the World Series.
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Broken bat…cut off by Wright, out! Throw home, WILD, tie game! Unbelievable baserunning by Eric Hosmer has tied it! They keep finding ways!” – Joe Buck.
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Moment #: 3 Date: October 27, 2015 Game: 2015 World Series Game 1, vs. New York Mets Score: New York 4, Kansas City 3, Bottom of the 9th Situation: One out, bases empty Count: 1-1 Matchup: Alex Gordon vs. Jeurys Familia Result: Home Run, tying run scores WPA: 47%
Summary: Alex Gordon hits the biggest home run in Royals history, tying Game 1 of the 2015 World Series in the bottom of the 9th.
Link to video: Here.

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ALEX GORDON IS A BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING AND I LOVE HIM SO VERY VERY MUCH — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 28, 2015
If you’re not a Royals fan, ranking this Moment ahead of Hosmer’s Mad Dash may seem, well, mad. Hosmer’s play is the iconic moment of the 2015 World Series. It is one of the most iconic World Series moments of the last decade. I suspect it’s the Royals play most likely to end up as a regular participant in the montage of great postseason moments that MLB will use in commercials and such. Alex Gordon’s home run, while it had a huge impact on the game, wasn’t even the most iconic home run of the 2015 playoffs – that would be Jose Bautista’s tie-breaking/bat-flipping magnum opus in Toronto in Game 5 of the ALDS.
And if this ranking was of the Top Baseball Moments of 2015, then Hosmer’s Mad Dash would rank higher than Gordon’s homer. But I’m ranking the Top Royals Moments. And in terms of what it meant for the Royals, Gordon’s home run was indisputably more important. What kind of creative genius would bat Alex Gordon 8th in the lineup? #Yosted — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 28, 2015
If Hosmer didn’t try for home, the Royals lose Game 5 of the World Series. If that’s the case, then they still come home to Kansas City for Games 6 and 7, needing to win only one of the two games to win the World Series.
But if Gordon didn’t homer, well…let’s remember how we got to that situation in the first place. The Royals had tied Game 1 with two runs in the 6th inning, 3-3, and were looking good in the 8th inning when Kelvin Herrera retired the first two Mets. Then Juan Lagares singled after an impressive nine-pitch at-bat, stole second, and then Wilmer Flores hit a chopper to first base that Hosmer just whiffed on – the ball got past him and Lagares scored the go-ahead run. WHAT IS IT WITH THE METS AND GROUND BALLS GOING UNDER FIRST BASEMEN'S GLOVES — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 28, 2015
Oh you have got to be kidding me. https://t.co/m4yYZqSluw — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 28, 2015

The Royals tried to retaliate when Ben Zobrist led off the bottom of the inning with a double (Moment #147), but Lorenzo Cain unadvisedly tried to bunt twice and wound up striking out on three pitches. Hosmer then struck out on three pitches, and their uncharacteristic inability to make contact proved crucial when a wild pitch by Tyler Clippard moved Zobrist to third with two outs. Kendrys Morales then walked, but Jeurys Familia came in and got Mike Moustakas to ground out to end the threat. Luke Hochevar pitched a scoreless top of the 9th, but the Royals trailed by a run with three outs to go, and let’s be clear: this would have been a brutal loss. The Royals were going to lose because of bad defense and an inability to make contact, and they were going to lose the first game of the World Series at home, setting up a must-win game with Johnny Cueto on the mound. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I was distraught. We couldn’t come this far again only to lose in the World Series again. But I was terrified that was exactly what was going to happen.
Salvador Perez led off the bottom of the 9th and grounded out. At this point the situation, if not the stakes, were exactly as they were in Moment #6: down a run with the bases empty and two outs left in the game. Gordon batted, with Paulo Orlando in the on-deck circle and Alcides Escobar in the hole. With all due respect to both those guys, I had no confidence in their ability to hit a guy with Familia’s stuff. It was really up to Gordon to do something dramatic.
And then Familia decided to get cute. On the 1-1 pitch to Gordon, he tried to quick-pitch him.
Fortunately, Gordon was paying attention when Familia did the same thing to Perez earlier in the inning, and he was ready. Familia unveiled a splitter mid-season and it was devastating – the hardest secondary pitch in baseball and maybe the best splitter in the game. I read this before the World Series and was terrified of the guy. But on his quick-pitch, Familia threw his 97 mph sinking fastball – still an excellent pitch! Except that, as Jeff Sullivan analyzed afterwards, the sinker didn’t sink as much as usual, possibly because in his rush to quick-pitch, Familia didn’t get full extension. So he left the fastball waist-high. And Gordon, looking for that quick-pitch, wasn’t late to catch up to the fastball. (Harold Reynolds, to his credit, gave basically this same analysis on the broadcast in real time.)
The result was a ball hit 442 feet to dead centerfield. And I mean DEAD centerfield – according to Hit Tracker Online, the “horizontal angle” of Gordon’s home run was 90.0 degrees. Gordon has only hit seven home runs farther in his major league career. Players dream their entire careers of hitting a ball that hard and that square, and Gordon hit one to tie a World Series game – a game his team would go on to win – in the bottom of the 9th.
But it’s not simply that the Royals wouldn’t have won Game 1 of the World Series without Gordon’s home run. It’s that his home run completely changed the course of the rest of the series as well.
The Royals won Game 2 handily, 7-1, but the Mets won Game 3 handily, 9-3. But for some strange reason, Mets manager Terry Collins decided to go to Familia to pitch the 9th in Game 3, despite his team leading by six runs, and despite the fact that Game 3 is the only game in the Series in which you’re scheduled to play the next two days as well. I never got a good explanation why – not that I was complaining: Jeurys Familia with a 6-run lead and back-to-back games coming up, because Collins is a big fan of how Yost managed his bullpen tonight. — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) October 31, 2015

But after the Series, Brian Kenny wrote about this for Sports on Earth, and pointed out that his studio colleague (and former closer) Dan Plesac liked the decision to go to Familia in Game 3 “because he believes even an elite closer needs to re-establish confidence”. I can’t say for certain that was Collins’ motivation, but I can’t think of any other reason why he would go to Familia there.
And if that’s the case – if Familia pitched a meaningless inning in Game 3 of the World Series because he gave up a home run to Gordon in Game 1 – then think of the repercussions: Collins didn’t go to Familia to start the 8th inning in Game 4, when the Mets were leading by just one run. Instead Collins let Tyler Clippard start the inning, and only after Clippard gave up back-to-back walks to Zobrist and Cain (Moments #104 and #103) did Collins finally turn to Familia, who thanks to some shoddy defense allowed three runs to score. Maybe those runs score anyway if Familia starts the inning; we’ll never know. But if Familia hadn’t pitched in Game 3, he almost certainly would have started the 8th inning in Game 4, and his arm would have been fresher. Instead, the Mets lost. Big ups to Terry Collins, for using Familia for no reason yesterday, probably making him reluctant to use Familia for 6 outs today. Thanks! — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 1, 2015
So in an alternative reality where Gordon doesn’t homer in Game 1, not only do the Mets win Game 1, they might also have won Game 4. In which case they would have led the series 3 games to 1 going to Game 5, and they would have been three outs away from a championship going to the 9th inning that night. If it plays out that way, does Collins give in to Matt Harvey wanting to throw a complete-game shutout? Or does he say, we’re three outs away from a championship, and I’m making sure my best pitcher is on the mound for that moment? In modern baseball it is basically a tradition for the team’s closer to get the final out of a clinching event – Wade Davis pitched the 9th inning in Game 5 against the Astros up five runs, Greg Holland pitched the 9th inning in Game 3 against the Angels up five runs. (Davis pitched the 9th inning with the Royals up by seven runs against the Seattle Mariners – and gave up a meaningless home run – in the game that clinched the AL Central.) I actually think that with a championship three outs away, it would have been easier for Collins to stick with his conviction and bring in Familia to start the 9th. (And if he had stuck with Harvey and the inning played out as it did? Even Hosmer himself has said that he probably wouldn’t have tried to score had the Royals been down 3 games to 1 instead of ahead. Could you imagine if he had been thrown out at the plate to end the World Series?)
In which case it would have been the Mets, not the Royals, who won the 2015 World Series in five games. Speculative? Sure. But I absolutely believe that Gordon’s home run changed the course of not only the game, but the World Series.
And then there’s this, a list of the biggest plays, as measured by WPA, of any postseason game in Royals history:
Player          Year  Game       Event  WPA
George Brett    1980 ALCS Game 3  HR   0.49 Alex Gordon     2015 WS Game 1    HR   0.47 Dane Iorg       1985 WS Game 6    1B   0.46 Eric Hosmer     2014 ALDS Game 2  HR   0.43 Willie Aikens   1980 WS Game 3    1B   0.39 Salvador Perez  2014 Wild Card    1B   0.39

(If you’re surprised that Dane Iorg’s hit isn’t in first, keep in mind that with one out and the bases loaded, the Royals were in excellent position to tie the game without benefit of a hit. By Win Probability, the Royals were actually slight favorites to win at that point.)
In terms of impact on the game, the only hit in Royals history with more impact on a playoff game was George Brett’s legendary home run – by consensus the biggest home run in franchise history before 2015 – into the upper deck at Yankee Stadium off Goose Gossage, with two outs and two on in the 7th inning of Game 3, turning a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead.
But that game came in the ALCS, and the Royals were already up 2 games to 0 – had they lost the game they still would have been favored to win the series. So if we take into account the importance of the game by combining WPA with the Championship Leverage Index of the game – as I explained here – then here’s a list of the biggest plays in Royals history, as measured by Championship Probability Added:
Player          Year  Game       Event  CPA
Dane Iorg       1985 WS Game 6    1B   0.230 Darryl Motley   1985 WS Game 7    HR   0.180 George Brett    1976 ALCS Game 5  HR   0.165 Alex Gordon     2015 WS Game 1    HR   0.147 Alex Gordon     2014 WS Game 7    2B   0.130

By one measurement, Gordon’s home run ranks second all-time, by the other, it ranks fourth, and the only other play in the top five by each measurement is Dane Iorg’s single. Iorg’s single is still, today, the biggest hit in Royals history. The second-biggest hit in Royals history comes down to Gordon’s homer off Familia vs. Brett’s homer off Gossage. And with all due respect to you old-timers out there, I’m going with Gordon’s home run. The Royals probably win the ALCS anyway in 1980 – and yes, I know about their frightening history with the Yankees – and besides, they didn’t go on to win the World Series. The 2015 Royals did. And they did it because of this guy:
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So yes, Hosmer’s Mad Dash may be the one that baseball fans remember. But Gordon’s Home Run is the one that Royals fans want to see immortalized. It's just a shame that he had to leave us, but what an amazing moment for the last home run of his Royals career.

Wait, you mean he didn't leave?! Alex Gordon is going to have a statue at Kauffman Stadium some day. #Royals #ForeverRoyal @Royals pic.twitter.com/MI9kVxY9rJ — Jeremy Scheuch (@jeremyscheuch) January 6, 2016
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Gordon in the air to center…back at the wall…THIS GAME IS TIED!” – Joe Buck.
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Moment #: 2 Date: September 30, 2014 Game: 2014 Wild Card Game, vs. Oakland Athletics Score: Oakland 8, Kansas City 8, Bottom of the 12th Situation: Two outs, man on second Count: 2-2 (+1 foul) Matchup: Salvador Perez vs. Jason Hammel Result: Single, winning run scores, game over WPA: 39%
Summary: Salvador Perez ends the greatest game in Royals history with a walk-off single with two outs in the 12th inning.

Link to video: Here.

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There’s a reason this is my Twitter avatar, you know.
It’s possible to make too much of this play – the Royals had already tied the game, so the worst-case scenario was that they were headed to the 13th. But one thing that makes this hit so special was that it came with two outs. For all of the Royals’ postseason heroics the last two years, in fact, this is the only two-out hit to drive in the tying or go-ahead run in the 8th inning or later in a playoff game. There was no backup plan; if Salvador Perez didn’t come through here, the game was going to the 13th inning.
And there weren’t just two outs; there were two strikes. Perez had fallen behind 1-and-2 when the A’s pitched out – and Christian Colon stole second base anyway (Moment #74) – and then fouled off the first 2-and-2 pitch. The next pitch from Jason Hammel was a slider down and away. Perez had already struck out on three sliders down and away in the 8th inning, with the tying run on third and go-ahead run on second with one out: had the Royals lost the game, he would have been one of the chief scapegoats. (Along with Yordano Ventura, and Ned Yost for bringing in Yordano Ventura.) It wasn’t a great slider from Hammel – it didn’t have a ton of bite, and it stayed up at the knees. On the other hand, it was at least six inches outside, and if a right-handed hitter was going to put that ball in play for a base hit, he was almost certainly going to shoot it through the right side.
But not Perez. His swing was off-balance to the extreme – at the point of contact he was flat-footed and his right hand had almost already come off the bat – but somehow he pulled the ball. Not just pulled it, but pulled it just inside the line, pulled so far and so hard that Josh Donaldson, playing not far off the base, was unable to glove it. How close did he come? This close:
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And how happy was Perez? This happy:
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In Andy McCullough’s majestic report on the Wild Card Game a year later, we learned a little something extra:
“Traded to Toronto after the season, Donaldson played third base for the American League. He told Yost how he lost sleep over the Wild Card game’s last play. When Colon stole second, Donaldson moved away from the third-base line to protect the arm of Gomes. He shifted himself an inch away from preventing history.
That same week, Donaldson told Perez a similar story.
“He told me that he almost got it,” Perez said. “And you can see on the video, he touched it a little bit. So close, you know? And he thought he was going to get it.””
On such fractions of an inch is history made.
We’ll never know what would have happened had Perez made an out; maybe the Royals would have won anyway. Jason Frasor was the pitcher of record for the Royals, and Jeremy Guthrie was warming up in the pen; the only other pitcher on the roster was Danny Duffy, who we now know was limited by injury and would have only been available for an inning or two. Hammel had just come into the game to pitch to Perez, and the only pitchers left for Oakland were Ryan Cook and Drew Pomeranz, though as a starting pitcher Hammel was probably good for 2-3 innings. He was objectively a better pitcher than Guthrie in 2014, but in a sudden death situation like that, you might as well throw a dart trying to guess who would score next.
But we didn’t have to throw a dart. Perez had somehow pulled a slider well outside the strike zone down the third base line. Colon had scored the walkoff run. The most important game the Royals had played in 29 years had turned into the best game the Royals had played in 29 years.
And now, with the benefit of hindsight and the blessing of all that came after it, I can say confidently that it was, in fact, the greatest game in Royals history.



(Yes, that's my voice you hear, losing my mind and saying "Oh my God!" over and over and over again, and then something distinctly NSFW and possibly blasphemous. In my defense, I honestly have no memory of that - I must have partially blacked out.)

Memorable Broadcaster Quote: “Past third! Into left field! The Kansas City Royals are walking off into the ALDS!” – Ernie Johnson
That one will never get old.
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Moment #: 1 Date: November 1, 2015 Game: 2015 World Series Game 5, @ New York Mets Score: Kansas City 7, New York 2, Bottom of the 12th Situation: Two outs, man on second Count: 1-2 (+2 fouls) Matchup: Wilmer Flores vs. Wade Davis Result: Strikeout looking, game over WPA: 0%
Summary: The Royals Take The Crown.
Link to video: Here.

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NO OUTS TO GO — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 2, 2015
In terms of game impact, leverage index, whatever you want to call it, this Moment ought to rank near the bottom of our list. The Royals led by five runs, and there were two outs, and a single lonely runner on base. The ballpark was probably more than half-empty at that point, as Mets fans had long before started streaming for the exits. The only concentration of fans was behind the Royals dugout, a sea of blue in a ballpark that was otherwise patchy orange. There was no real drama about what was about to happen. Wade Davis overmatched an average major league hitter who probably wanted to be anywhere but standing at the plate at that very moment. He got ahead of Wilmer Flores 1-and-2, then slipped a 95 mph fastball by him on the inside corner. It was a borderline strike call, to be honest, but it’s telling of just how little was at stake that afterwards there wasn’t a hint of controversy over the call. I said it when they clinched in Chicago last year. I say it again: The only thing that would make this better was if you were all here too. — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 2, 2015
And if you believe that’s all this moment was about, you probably think that Neil Armstrong really did just take one small step for a man, and what’s the fuss all about? 
CROWN STATUS: TAKEN — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 2, 2015
Memorable Broadcaster Quote: "The 1-2 again...INSIDE CORNER! THE ROYALS, 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONS!" - Joe Buck.
This was the Moment that every other Moment on this list was in service towards. This was the Moment we had been waiting for since Darryl Motley caught a fly ball at Kauffman Stadium 30 years before. This was probably the closest I’ve ever come to an out-of-body experience, standing with a few thousand other Royals fans down the third-base line, already in celebration mode, waiting for the party to start. BUSINESS STATUS: FINISHED — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 2, 2015
This was a nothing moment. This was an everything Moment. This was the final step in a generation-long journey. This was one giant leap for an organization, a fan base, and a city that 15 months before was the most downtrodden franchise in American sports. This was validation. This was a line on my bucket list being checked off. This was the Moment I had waited my entire adult life and much of my childhood for. This was the Moment that, in an instant, paid me back for a lifetime of devotion. PROCESS STATUS: TRUSTED — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 2, 2015
To David and Dan Glass; to Dayton Moore and the front office that put together the team and dealt with the frustration and anger of their fan base for nearly a decade; to Ned Yost and the coaching staff; to the support staff and trainers and scouts and all the unsung heroes in the organization; to all the players who weren’t on the playoff roster but made their contributions throughout the season; to Raul Mondesi; and to The 25, the guys who, if I were granted absolute power, all Royals fans would be forced to give a standing ovation for the first time their name was mentioned over the PA system in a game, from now until the ends of their careers, even if it meant 40,000 fans rising as one to salute them when they entered a game in 2029 as a pinch-hitter for the opponent:
Drew Butera, Lorenzo Cain, Christian Colon, Johnny Cueto, Wade Davis, Danny Duffy, Jarrod Dyson, Alcides Escobar, Alex Gordon, Terrance Gore, Kelvin Herrera, Luke Hochevar, Eric Hosmer, Ryan Madson, Kris Medlen, Franklin Morales, Kendrys Morales, Mike Moustakas, Paulo Orlando, Salvador Perez, Alex Rios, Yordano Ventura, Edinson Volquez, Chris Young, and Ben Zobrist. One final time, for the sake of posterity:

This team.

This team.

THIS TEAM. — Rany Jazayerli (@jazayerli) November 2, 2015
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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I began this project three months ago as a way to pay tribute to the best sports team I will probably ever have the privilege of rooting for, and perhaps as a way to make penance for all the doubts and criticisms and insults pointed at the players, managers, and front office over the years.
In the 1986 Bill James Baseball Abstract, Bill James writes a 35-page essay – I’m pretty sure it’s the longest essay in any of his Abstracts – entitled “A History Of Being A Kansas City Baseball Fan”. In the 1990s and early 2000s it was almost an annual tradition for me to re-read the essay around Opening Day. And at some point I promised myself that if the Royals ever somehow won another championship, that I would do my best to write Part 2.
I’d like to think that this project was the 21st-century, multimedia-saturated, HTML-coded version of that essay. I hope I lived up to James’ legacy. I hope I did you all proud.
But about halfway through the project, I realized I was also doing something else with this project: I was saying goodbye.
I was 20 years old when we started Baseball Prospectus. I turned 40 last summer. Two decades and half my lifetime have been spent writing about baseball and the Royals in my free time, generally for little or no pay, for the pure pleasure of having my opinion heard. My devotion to baseball has been returned in kind, and I am so very grateful for that. But I don’t know what else I can accomplish as a part-time, multi-tasking, perennially distracted writer.
I've seen the baseball industry completely accept the ideas I so strongly believed in when we started Baseball Prospectus. I've written for ESPN, and appeared on MLB Network, and somehow got in on Grantland almost from the ground floor, and I'll forever have “Grantland Writer” on my résumé. I've sat on discussion panels with major league GMs. I've interviewed for a position inside a front office. And I just watched the team I've rooted for since childhood follow up one of the most magical seasons in history that didn't end in a championship with one of the most magical seasons in history that did. I'm at peace that the game I've loved all my life has returned the favor to me in spades.
So it feels like the right time to say goodbye. I know I’ve said goodbye before; I’ve retired more times than Sugar Ray Leonard. But this goodbye feels more complete, and more permanent. The unfortunate demise of Grantland means that I currently have no other venue to write about baseball, so I don’t have anywhere else to retire from. And I’m leaving, if not on top, then at least with the Royals on top. Whatever debt they owed to me has been paid back with interest. I can walk away now with something I’ve never had before: closure.
And so I’m walking away. I’ll still be a Royals fan. I’ll still watch their games, though perhaps not as obsessively. But I don’t want my life to be consumed by them anymore. My oldest daughter is supposed to leave for high school in five years, and I need to spend more time with my kids while I still have the chance. I need to spend more time with my family and with my patients and less time staring at the Twitter app on my phone.
Thank you all for everything. Writing for all of you has been one of the great joys of my life. But all good things must come to an end before they go bad. I hope this final project will stand as a monument to these Royals for decades to come, and that you all come back every now and then and relive the magic one more time.
Take care, everyone.