Bleacher Report's 2015 World Series Awards
They trailed in every game of the World Series. Heck, they trailed in the ninth inning of two of the four games they won (and in the eighth inning of another)!
The Kansas City Royals are amazing (sorry, New York Mets fans). They're also champions after Sunday night's 7-2, 12-inning win in Game 5.
The Royals won a year after losing the World Series in Game 7 against the San Francisco Giants. They won for just the second time in franchise history and the first since 1985.
They were impressive, all of them, but we're still going to pick some individuals to single out for Bleacher Report's World Series awards.
Best Game: Royals 7, Mets 2, 12 Innings (Game 5)
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The first game was great. The last game was better.
Both featured Matt Harvey against Edinson Volquez, and both went extra innings. Both featured a ninth-inning Royals rally. Alex Gordon's Game 1 home run off Jeurys Familia was good, but Eric Hosmer's daring race home with Game 5's tying run was breathtaking. Hosmer's game-winning sacrifice fly in Game 1 was fine, but Christian Colon's series-winning single in Game 5 was better.
There were plenty of talking points, from whether Mets manager Terry Collins erred when he let Harvey talk his way back to the mound for the ninth inning to whether Hosmer's game-tying run was more the result of good, aggressive baserunning or a Mets defensive mistake.
And in the end, there was a celebration Kansas City had spent the last 30 years waiting for. Thirty years and 12 innings, because the Royals became the first team since the 1924 Washington Senators to clinch a World Series in the 12th inning (no team has done it any later).
Best Performance on the Losing Team: Matt Harvey, New York Mets
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He fell three outs shy of sending the World Series back to Kansas City for a Game 6. He talked his manager into sending him out for a ninth inning that wouldn't end well for either of them.
But what Matt Harvey did for eight innings Sunday night was so special he deserves credit rather than blame. Whatever else you think of Harvey, he proved how much he loves the biggest stage and the biggest games. He pitched with no margin for error and almost no offensive support, thrilled the Mets crowd and made an impression on anyone watching.
We can debate forever how smart it was for Harvey to throw 216 innings in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, but in the end his only regret was he wasn't able to get through a 217th inning. You hope the surgically repaired elbow stays intact because you want to watch more games like Sunday's, but there was no way he could have or should have skipped a chance at having this moment.
Best Performance by a Rookie: Michael Conforto, New York Mets
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His two home runs should have given the Mets a win in Game 4; Conforto came back Sunday and had two of the Mets' four hits in Game 5.
Conforto had his struggles earlier in the postseason—he went 0-for-20 after homering off Zack Greinke in his first at-bat—but when his teammates went cold against the Royals, the 22-year-old Conforto was one guy who showed some life at the plate.
It wasn't a fluke. Conforto was the Mets' first-round draft pick in 2014, and he has moved so fast it's difficult to imagine him not being an everyday player from Opening Day next year.
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Biggest Disappointment: Yoenis Cespedes, New York Mets
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This should have been the week for Yoenis Cespedes to show off the way he did in August, the week for him to add years and dollars to the free-agent contract he'll sign somewhere sometime this winter.
Instead, the World Series turned into a nightmare from the start (his misplay that became Alcides Escobar's leadoff home run in Game 1) to the end (when he left Game 5 in the seventh inning after a nasty foul ball off his left knee). Cespedes didn't hit (three singles and just one RBI in 20 at-bats), didn't field and didn't even run well (getting doubled off first base to end Game 4).
The Cespedes trade was still a defining moment for the Mets, who wouldn't have gotten nearly this far without him. He's still a big talent who not only changes games but changes teams.
But he sure had a World Series to forget.
Biggest Defining Moment: Eric Hosmer's Daring Race Home to Tie Game 5
5 of 9Mets fans may remember Daniel Murphy's error or Terry Collins' decisions, but the Royals were deserving winners, and nothing said Royals more than the way they tied Game 5 in the ninth inning.
Eric Hosmer had doubled home Lorenzo Cain, making it a 2-1 game. Hosmer went to third when Mike Moustakas made the first out on a ground ball to first. Then Salvador Perez hit a looper Mets third baseman David Wright played on a hop.
Hosmer inched down the third-base line, froze momentarily when Wright looked his way, then took off for home as Wright threw to Lucas Duda at first base for the second out. Duda's throw home was wide, and the game was tied.
There's no question a good throw gets Hosmer. But for the Royals, there was also no question Hosmer made the right decision by forcing the play.
"Make players make plays, that's kind of the slogan we use," first-base coach Rusty Kuntz said. "Don't be afraid. Go, go, go, until they crack. If the throw is right on the base, he's out, but we'll take that chance."
Wright credited Hosmer, and the Royals.
"When things are going your way, things like that seem to work out," he said.
You could say that was the story of the World Series, and the story of the Royals' season.
They make things go their way. They force things to work out.
When they saw Hosmer take off, they said, of course he's going.
"I just thought, 'I wish it was [speedster Jarrod] Dyson,'" Royals scouting legend Art Stewart said. "But that was it. That was the ballgame."
And that was the World Series.
Biggest Decision That Didn't Work: Terry Collins Sticks with Matt Harvey
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Terry Collins is 66 years old, and as he said earlier in the postseason: "I either get this done now...I don't have a lot of shots. It's pretty big for me."
Collins deserves plenty of credit for getting the Mets this far and only a very small amount of the blame for their failure to win it. But in his postseason press conference after Game 5, Collins was accepting all of the blame for his big decision that didn't work out, when he left Matt Harvey in for the ninth inning in a 2-0 game.
At the time, it seemed like the only decision Collins could make. Harvey had been brilliant, and he was also insistent. Mets closer Jeurys Familia is good but not automatic, and if Collins had pulled Harvey, all the energy built up at Citi Field would have left the building before the ninth inning even began.
In retrospect, after the Royals had scored the two runs to tie the game and eventually the five 12th-inning runs that won the World Series, Collins didn't see it that way at all. He said he'd made a mistake.
"I let my heart get in the way of my gut," he said. "I love my players and trust them. When you looked in this kid's eyes...I just trusted him. It's my fault. This is my fault. I've got one of the best closers in the game. I got him in there, but too late.
"That's inexcusable."
I don't agree. Collins' decision didn't work out, but it wasn't the wrong move. Then again, by definition at this time of year, moves that don't work can't be right.
"I won't be sleeping much the next couple of days," Collins said.
Best Pitching Performance: Johnny Cueto, Kansas City Royals
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Think of it this way:
The Royals and Blue Jays both traded for a rent-an-ace in July. The guy the Blue Jays got was so good in August and September he might win the Cy Young Award, but when he got to October he didn't win a single start. The guy the Royals got was up-and-often-down during the regular season, but he won a must-win Game 5 in the division series and pitched the best game of anyone in the World Series.
Toronto did fine with David Price, but the Royals got exactly what they needed from Johnny Cueto.
Cueto's Game 2 two-hitter was the first in a World Series in 20 years, since Greg Maddux for the 1995 Atlanta Braves, and just the second in 44 years.
He rebounded from a bad game in Toronto in the ALCS, and he outdueled Jacob deGrom in a game the New York Mets were counting on winning. In a World Series of good pitching performances, Cueto's was the best.
Best Reliever: Wade Davis, Kansas City Royals
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The Royals were the better team in many ways, but their biggest advantage was in the bullpen. Though Mets closer Jeurys Familia had his defense to blame for two of his three blown saves, the fact is the Royals closer was basically untouchable.
Davis pitched just four innings in the World Series and got credit for just one save, but his presence hung over the entire World Series.
"The best feeling was going out there in the 12th inning with a five-run lead—and with Wade coming in," Royals left fielder Alex Gordon said.
Davis actually did allow a two-out Michael Conforto single in that 12th inning, but he struck out the other three batters he faced, including Wilmer Flores to end this baseball season.
MVP: Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals
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One of the cool things about the Royals is they don't have a single star. It wasn't easy to pick their best player during the season, and it wasn't easy to pick an MVP for this World Series.
Salvador Perez was the official choice, and he's ours as well. His .364 batting average didn't come with a lot of production, but it was his single that opened the Series-winning 12th inning in Game 5. Perez also had a couple of key hits in Game 4, and of course he was the guy who caught for the pitching staff that mostly shut down the Mets hitters.
Besides all of that, Perez is a guy who pretty well represents the revival of the Royals under general manager Dayton Moore. He signed with the team out of Venezuela in 2006 and committed his future to the Royals when he signed a five-year contract with three club options just 39 games into his major league career.
That was in February 2012, when the Royals were coming off a 26th consecutive season without a playoff appearance. Now they've been to the World Series two straight years, and for the first time since 1985 they're champions.
Salvador Perez is a big reason why.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
Follow Danny on Twitter and talk baseball.
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