World Series 2015 Reaction

I thought 2014 was pretty memorable, and historic. But 2015, topped that by miles.

From my favorite player, Alex Gordon’s super human foul ball catch, more epic comebacks, our Swiss Army knife Ben Zobrist, and lastly Michael Jackson dance moves on the mound from Yordano Ventura, when he uses that big sweeping curveball to make hitters look foolish.

Unlike last year, this year was all about unfinished business. They were on top of the baseball world from beginning to end and out to prove they were no fluke.

And then once we hit the playoffs, the Royals toyed with the Astros. After the eighth-inning of ALDS Game 4, IT WAS ON! I would never mock anybody, but I wondered if the Royals were like, let’s spot them some runs so they can feel good about themselves. Haha. Or maybe it was the karma the Texas Governor brought upon them when he prematurely posted on social media about an Astros series victory. Then Kendrys Morales' homer sealed the deal on our way to advancing to the ALCS in the next game.

That brings us to the glorious World Series Game 5. The Mets left Matt Harvey in for one inning too long! Finally! After years of suffering as a Kansas City sports fan from the Chiefs, and Royals.

Kansas City is title town USA.

Brad Freeman’s All-Time Lifetime Baseball Team

My all-time baseball team during my lifetime.

Starting Lineup:

LF: Rickey Henderson (Oakland Athletics)

CF: Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle Mariners) *favorite non-KC Royal position player

RF: Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres)

3B: George Brett (Kansas City Royals) *favorite KC Royal position player

SS: Cal Ripken Jr. (Baltimore Orioles)

2B: Roberto Alomar (Toronto Blue Jays/Baltimore Orioles/Cleveland Indians)

1B/DH: Frank Thomas (Chicago White Sox)

C: Ivan Rodriguez (Texas Rangers)

Batting Order:

1. Rickey Henderson

2. Cal Ripken Jr.

3. Ken Griffey Jr.

4. Tony Gwynn

5. Frank Thomas

6. Albert Pujols

7. George Brett

8. Ivan Rodriguez

9. Roberto Alomar

Bench:

OF: Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle Mariners)
OF: Carlos Beltran (Kansas City Royals/Houston Astros)
1B/DH: Albert Pujols (St. Louis Cardinals)
C: Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants)
2B: Chase Utley (Philadelphia Phillies/Los Angeles Dodgers) *26^th man during double headers

Starting Pitching Rotation:

1. Randy Johnson (Seattle Mariners/Arizona Diamondbacks) *favorite left-handed starter

2. Roger Clemens (Boston Red Sox/New York Yankees) *favorite right-handed starter

3. Pedro Martinez (Boston Red Sox)

4. Greg Maddux (Atlanta Braves) *favorite member of the 90s Atlanta Braves rotation

5. Curt Schilling (Philadelphia Phillies/Arizona Diamondbacks/Boston Red Sox)

Bullpen:

Nolan Ryan (Houston Astros/Texas Rangers) *can be a 6th starter/long reliever

Jesse Orosco (New York Mets/Baltimore Orioles)

John Franco (New York Mets)

Billy Wagner (Houston Astros)

John Wetteland (Texas Rangers/New York Yankees)

Dennis Eckersley (Oakland Athletics) *Set up man

Mariano Rivera (New York Yankees) *Closer

2015 KC Royals Projected World Series Depth Chart

Oh… How this moment feels like déjà vu! This particular moment in time is the culmination of a 9-year turnaround. It began with bringing in Dayton Moore as our new GM from the Atlanta Braves and his player personnel staff in 2006. Then hiring Ned Yost from the Atlanta Braves as a consultant in 2009, and then making him Manager in 2010. The significance of these 2 hires? The Atlanta Braves have been consistently good since the nineties. All those front office people who went to the Braves in the late eighties, grew up by putting the Royals of the seventies and eighties together. So, in baseball terms I guess things have come full circle. Now, with that being said, this current crop of Royals came together in 2012, and they started playing together in 2013, which led to the climax of 2014, as I’ve mentioned before. This is the greatest event in the last 10 years of KC Royals baseball. Let’s make it one to remember fellas.

As always, there are 162 games in a season for each team. That’s one every day starting usually the 1^st Sunday in April, and going until the last day of September. Playoffs and the World Series are in October. There are 25 men on the roster. Whenever a game is rained out, or postponed due to lightning, they play what’s called a doubleheader to make up for the game that was lost the day before. So, for those days, teams are allotted a 26th man for the doubleheader. And the last month of September is when the roster is expanded to 40 for the month. The whole goal is to win a series at a time, against the team you play 3 or 4 times in a row until the end of the season. If you win more than 90 games total, you usually make the playoffs.

… Also, baseball is divided into 2 leagues with 15 teams each. They’re differentiated by the Designated Hitter in the American League (a position player only bats for the pitcher and never plays defense), and in the National League, the pitcher bats last in the batting order. Someday soon, I have a feeling both leagues will have a universal DH because the pitchers don’t practice batting very often and are always an easy out. I also believe, much like the DH, the 26th man will be permanent years from now.
 

Here is my projected 2015 KC Royals World Series Roster:

Starting Lineup:
LF: Alex Gordon *favorite current KC Royal position player
CF: Lorenzo Cain
RF: Alex Rios
3B: Mike Moustakas
SS: Alcides Escobar
2B: Ben Zobrist
1B/DH: Eric Hosmer
C: Salvador Perez

Batting Order:
1. Alcides Escobar
2. Ben Zobrist
3. Lorenzo Cain
4. Eric Hosmer
5. Kendrys Morales
6. Mike Moustakas
7. Salvador Perez
8. Alex Gordon
9. Alex Rios

Bench:
OF: Jarrod Dyson
OF: Paulo Orlando
1B/DH: Kendrys Morales
IF: Christian Colon
C: Drew Butera
IF: Raul Mondesi

Starting Pitching Rotation:
1. Edinson Volquez
2. Johnny Cueto
3. Yordano Ventura *favorite current KC Royal pitcher
4. Danny Duffy
5. Chris Young

Bullpen:
Kris Medlen
Luke Hochevar
Franklin Morales
Kelvin Herrera
Ryan Madson *Set up man
Wade Davis *Closer

2015 KC Royals Projected Opening Day Depth Chart

Since the Royals always have a propensity to make it interesting the last 2 years, I’m going to hope that they were not absolutely destroyed as a team, and became a one hit wonder after Baumgardner came in to save the day. Let’s hope that the bad taste left in their mouths from last October fuels them to get back to the World Series and win it all this time. They were 90 feet away from immortality. We didn’t get beat by the San Francisco Giants. We got beat by one singular individual. Let’s finish what we started Royals, and take your rightful place in baseball history!

As always, there are 162 games in a season for each team. That’s one every day starting usually the 1^st Sunday in April, and going until the last day of September. Playoffs and the World Series are in October. There are 25 men on the roster. Whenever a game is rained out, or postponed due to lightning, they play what’s called a doubleheader to make up for the game that was lost the day before. So, for those days, teams are allotted a 26th man for the doubleheader. And the last month of September is when the roster is expanded to 40 for the month. The whole goal is to win a series at a time, against the team you play 3 or 4 times in a row until the end of the season. If you win more than 90 games total, you usually make the playoffs.

 
… Also, baseball is divided into 2 leagues with 15 teams each. They’re differentiated by the Designated Hitter in the American League (a position player only bats for the pitcher and never plays defense), and in the National League, the pitcher bats last in the batting order. Someday soon, I have a feeling both leagues will have a universal DH because the pitchers don’t practice batting very often and are always an easy out. I also believe, much like the DH, the 26th man will be permanent years from now.
 
Here is my projected 2015 KC Royals Opening Day Roster:

Starting Lineup:
LF: Alex Gordon *favorite current KC Royal position player
CF: Lorenzo Cain
RF: Alex Rios
3B: Mike Moustakas
SS: Alcides Escobar
2B: Omar Infante
1B/DH: Eric Hosmer
C: Salvador Perez

Batting Order:
1. Alcides Escobar
2. Mike Moustakas
3. Lorenzo Cain
4. Eric Hosmer
5. Kendrys Morales
6. Alex Gordon
7. Salvador Perez
8. Alex Rios
9. Omar Infante
 
Bench:
OF: Jarrod Dyson
OF: Paulo Orlando
1B/DH: Kendrys Morales
C: Erik Kratz
IF: Christian Colon

Starting Pitching Rotation:
1. Yordano Ventura *favorite current KC Royal pitcher
2. Danny Duffy
3. Edinson Volquez
4. Jason Vargas
5. Jeremy Guthrie

Bullpen:
Chris Young
Jason Frasor

Franklin Morales
Kelvin Herrera
Ryan Madson *Set up man
Wade Davis *Closer