Very few pundits saw the Mets or (despite being defending AL champs) Royals reaching the Fall Classic, yet both teams are now preparing for Game 1 of the World Series. Here’s some info on both teams, looking back at how they got to the brink of a championship…
- It took a while for Dayton Moore’s rebuilding plan to show results, but the Royals GM tells ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick that he sees past mistakes as learning experiences that helped he and the club shape the current winning roster. Canny trades and free agent signings within the last year were a big part of Kansas City’s success, yet the fact that so many of the Royals are homegrown prospects who have spent years playing together is seen as a positive by manager Ned Yost. “They came up as a core, and they won championships in Double-A and Triple-A together….Having them experience that over the last five or six years, it just gives them a certain comfort level when you get into this type of position. They know each other. They all have the same goals and the same dreams and the same values. It just makes for a closer team,” Yost said.
- Over half of the Royals’ ALCS roster didn’t play for the team in last year’s World Series, The Associated Press’ Dave Skretta writes, a somewhat under-the-radar overhaul that mostly focused on adding a lot of new pitchers.
- Given how both teams looked to rebuild though young talent, it’s no surprise that many former blue-chip prospects are now playing key roles for the Royals and Mets, MLB.com’s Jim Callis notes. He lists the top 15 players in this World Series based on their original prospect status, with Alex Gordon leading the way.
- Game 1 will fall almost exactly five years after the day Sandy Alderson was hired as the Mets’ GM, and ESPN’s Adam Rubin looks at the tough road Alderson had to navigate, especially given the financial limitations on the franchise due to the Wilpon family’s losses in the Bernie Madoff scandal. The Mets’ big deadline trades and the Nationals’ surprising collapse opened the door for this season’s NL East title, and Rubin notes that Alderson also laid groundwork in the form of the Zack Wheeler-for-Carlos Beltran trade in 2011 and the deal that brought Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud for R.A. Dickey in early 2013. Alderson was also helped by several young players drafted under former GM Omar Minaya who are now franchise cornerstones.
Having the Wilpons use that Madoff excuse still is as bad as the Cubs curse and the Dodgers not being in the World Series. It’s disgusting!
I’m with you. What would it take for the Wilpon family to no longer use that as an excuse? Have they still not made most of his loses back yet? Because I’m quite sure they have.
Seems like they want to scam Mets fans but got lucky with the build from within excuse last couple years.
Marlins 2.0
Huh? Your’re equating the Mets owners being victimized by Madoff to the tune of half a billion dollars to the Cubs curse and the McCourt shenanigans?
All three things are totally different, and only the Dodgers former owners were culpable of criminal actions.
Or are you saying it’s criminal that the Dodgers can’t win with a $300 million payroll? If so, that’s different too, but the Dodgers still represent the worst of all these circumstances.
“Victimized” is a strong term for the Madoff disaster, as there have been more than whispers that the Wilpons knew at some point that it was too good to be true, but they played along bc of the massive returns.
That Dickey trade was brutal. The biggest blemish on AA’s record, and ill-advised even at the time it was made
That Dic key trade was brutal. The biggest blemish on AA’s record, and ill-advised even at the time it was made
props to alderson and his staff. stuck with the plan, didn’t cave to pressure, and pulled the trigger when he had to.