50 fabulous facts about the 2015 World Series

It was a November 1 to remember with the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS in action, plus the NYC Marathon and of course, the World Series.

But it wasn’t until 12:34 a.m. ET, the sequential time on November that the Kansas City Royals were crowned baseball’s champions.

Clearly, Kansas City wanted it a little more; after all they hadn’t won the Series since 1985 while the New York Mets had won it as recently as 1986.

But for K.C. it was the 90 feet short they fell last season in Game 7 that inspired the team from start to finish.

Defining postseason moments in the Royals� title run

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Here ars 50 fabulous facts about the Series:

1. The Royals finished the postseason 11-5; the Mets, 8-6.
2. The Royals had seven wins after trailing by 2+ runs and became the first team to win three World Series games after trailing in the 8th inning or later.
3. From the 7th inning on, the Royals scored 15 times and allowed the Mets just one run.
4. The overall ERA this postseason was 4.01. The Mets ERA was 3.36 in 14 games and the Royals was 3.89 in 16 games.
5. In the World Series, the Mets had a 4.21 ERA and the Royals had a 2.94.
6. In the Series, the vaunted Mets starters had a 4.20 ERA and the Royals starters were at 3.81.
7. Throughout the postseason, the bullpens had a 3.55 ERA. The Mets’ ‘pen had a 3.64 ERA, the Royals’ 2.51. In the Series, the Mets bullpen had a 4.22 ERA and 1.172 WHIP, while the Royals had a sparkling 1.91 ERA and 0.845 WHIP.
8. In the Series, from the 7th inning on, the Royals bullpen had a .156 batting average against and the Mets relievers a .230 BAA.
9. In the postseason, the Royals scored 40 times from the 8th inning on, every other team combined scored 26, with the Cardinals scoring five times, second to KC.
10. In the Series, the Royals outscored the Mets, 15-1 from the 8th inning; the Mets hit .109 without an extra-base hit.
11. Leading up to the Series, from the 7th inning on, the Royals bullpen had allowed four doubles and five homers; against the Mets, the Royals relievers did not allow an extra-base hit.
12. The Royals had a record-setting eight postseason wins by their bullpen.
13. Kansas City relievers Kelvin Herrera and Luke Hochevar each pitched five innings against the Mets; they combined to allow seven hits, two walks, striking out eight and allowed no runs.
14. Wade Davis added four World Series scoreless innings striking out eight and walking none. He was not scored upon in 10.2 postseason innings.
15. For you Terry Collins second-guessers: Matt Harvey has 65 regular season starts with just one shutout and one complete games and that was in 2013.
16. The Mets threw 251 pitches 95+ mph and the Royals threw 204. The Mets starters threw 192 and their relievers threw 59. The Royals starters threw 79 and their relievers threw 125.
17. Off of pitches 95+ mph, there 28 hits with Salvador Perez, Mike Moustakas, Alcides Escobar and David Wright all leading with three apiece. There were 27 strikeouts with Travis d’Arnaud going down four times and Wilmer Flores three times.
18. The Mets’ Daniel Murphy led all sluggers with seven postseason homers, but against the Royals, his faulty glove was more impactful. In the Series he only had three singles in 20 AB.
19. There were only eight homers hit in the five-game WS/ For the Mets, Curtis Granderson hit three, Michael Conforto hit two and David Wright hit one. For the champs, Alex Gordon hit one over the fence; Alcides Escobar hit an inside-the-park HR.
20. Raul Mondesi played 1525 MLB regular season games and never appeared in the World Series; his son, Raul A. Mondesi has never played a regular season MLB, but he made his major league debut in Game 3 as a pinch-hitter (he whiffed).
21. World Series MVP Salvador Perez hit .364, became the first Royal with three hits in multiple World Series games with three in Game 4 in 2014 and three in Game in 2015. Perez had six two-strike hits. He started 16 consecutive games after catching 139 in the regular season. Perez was the last out in 2014 Series against the Giants.
22. The Mets hit just .179 with runners in scoring position against the Royals with 10 RBI in 28 AB, the Royals hit .347 against the Mets (with five extra-base hits and 23 RBI).
23. Alcides Escobar hit .231 in the Series but .329 in the postseason and led all batters with 23 hits.
24. Curtis Granderson and Alex Gordon each saw 106 pitches, the most any players in the Series. The Grandy Man swung at 37 and missed only six, while Gordon swung at 50 and missed nine.
25. David Wright in 25 Series PA saw 92 pitches swung at 44 and missed 17.
26. There were 83 strikeouts and 14 walks in the World Series: KC whiffed 37 times and walked seven times, the Mets struck out 46 times and walked seven times.
27. Daniel Murphy and Alex Gordon walked five times to lead all batters in the Series; Lorenzo Cain walked 11 times in the postseason.
28. The Mets were one-of-three in stolen base attempts against KC; the Royals were seven-for-seven against the Mets. Overall in the postseason, KC stole 14 bases in 17 attempts.
29. Lorenzo Cain was perfect in four steal attempts against the Mets and six of seven in the postseason.
30. With two strikes: Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain each fouled off 11 pitches, Moose swung and missed just once on 22 two-strike pitches. Eric Hosmer and David Wright each went down swinging six times.
31. Michael Conforto, Mike Moustakas, and Ben Zobrist each led off three innings with a hit. Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson twice each led off an inning with a walk. Four times Yoenis Cespedes led off an inning by whiffing.
32. Christian Colon played three postseason games on September 30, October 11, and on November 1 he became the first player to drive in the Series-clinching run in first career WS appearance.
33. The Royals put the ball in play 155 times against the Mets getting 47 hits. The Mets put the ball in play 133 times against the Royals getting 35 hits.
34. Alcides Escobar had a 15-game postseason hitting streak in 2015.
35. There were seven DPs in the Series, six of the ground ball variety with Travis d’Arnaud hitting into a pair, Yoenis Cespedes, Wilmer Flores, Alex Gordon, Alcides Escobar one each. Lucas Duda hit the soft liner that was turned into a DP when Cespedes drifted off first.
36. The Mets struck out 17 times to end an inning, the Royals nine times. The Royals had 11 two-out hits with four RBI, the Mets had nine with one RBI.
37. The hearts of the order (3-4-5 batters) for both teams were held in check: the Royals hit .197, the Mets .180. The Royals had two doubles, the only extra-base hits for either club in a combined 145 PA.
38. With runners in scoring position and two outs, the Royals hit just .176 which looked robust compared to the Mets .071 BA.
39. Royals pitchers threw 92 sliders in 25 PA; the Mets were hitless against the pitch.
40. Of the 50 batters Edinson Volquez faced, 20 hit grounders.
41. Noah Syndergaard threw the fast pitch of the Series at 100.4 mph; Kelvin Herrera was next at 100.1.
42. In the 24.1 innings in which the Royals trailed, the Mets hit just .198 against KC pitching.
43. In the Series, the Mets made six errors, had one passed ball, and one wild pitch. The Royals made three errors in their 16 postseason games.
44. The Mets had no saves in the Series, but closer Jeurys Familia had three blown saves.
45. The aggressive Royals had 25 first-pitch hits in the postseason, but in the Series they had seven and the Mets had eight.
46. In the Series, when the Royals were ahead on the count they hit .200, when they were behind, they hit .233, and when they were even, they hit .274.
47. In the Series, when the Mets were ahead on the count they only hit .121, when they were behind, they hit .193, and when they were even, they hit .258.
48. The Series started with a 14-inning classic which lasted five hours and nine minutes, the longest World Series opener by time or innings. It ended with a 12-inning classic with the Royals scoring a record five times in the final inning. In 1924, Games 1 and 7 were also 12+ innings.
49. For 29 teams, it’s wait till next year.
50. Oh, and one more thing: The World Champion Royals will open next season at Kauffman Stadium on April 4 and 6, 2016… against the New York Mets.

“People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” - Rogers Hornsby