The Kansas City Royals are into the World Series for the first time since 1985 after beating Baltimore 2-1 on Wednesday to complete a 4-0 sweep of the American League Championship Series.
The Royals’ likely opponents are the San Francisco Giants, who beat the St Louis 6-4 to take a 3-1 series lead in Wednesday’s National League decider and had the chance to book their World Series berth when they faces the Cardinals at home yesterday.
Kansas City again proved to be the master of close games, beating the Orioles by a single run for the third time in the series, having won three other extra-inning games earlier in the playoffs.
Photo: EPA
“It’s been an amazing run. This is great,” said left-fielder Alex Gordon, who made a crucial and courageous catch that resulted in a jarring collision with the left-field wall. “Today, same old story: good pitching, good defense and scratch out a win.”
Outfielder Lorenzo Cain was selected Most Valuable Player of the ALCS, batting .533 and leading an outstanding defense.
After holding the Orioles to three hits in Game 3 on Tuesday, Royals starter Jason Vargas and the bullpen nearly did so again. Relievers Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis ushered the game to closer Greg Holland, who tied Dennis Eckersley’s record by saving his fourth ALCS game.
Kansas City are to host the first two World Series games starting on Tuesday. While San Francisco seem their destined rival, if St Louis turn around the NL series, it would set up a reprise of the 1985 World Series, when the Royals won their only MLB title by beating the Cardinals.
Regardless of the rival, the Royals will carry an 11-game playoff win streak into the World Series, one shy of the major league record. The first three date to 1985 and after a 29-year absence from the post-season, the Royals have thrived by winning eight in a row in this campaign. That includes the wild-card playoff against Oakland, then three straight wins to beat the Los Angeles Angels in the AL Division Series.
“We know once we have the lead, we’ve got the best pitching staff and the best bullpen around. So we’ve got to get them the lead,” said Eric Hosmer, who drove in a run.
The Orioles will limp into the off-season after suffering their first sweep in 21 playoff series.
A day before the Royals’ sweep, Baltimore’s Taiwanese pitcher Chen Wei-yin pitched his last game of the year. Yet despite his lack of success in the two post-season games, it is believed that Chen will keep playing for the Orioles next year, as the team have indicated their intention to retain the left-handed pitcher, who achieved a 16-6 record and a 3.54 ERA this season.
The 29-year-old joined the team in 2012, agreeing to a three-year contract with the Orioles that includes a US$4.75 million club option with a US$372,000 buyout for next year.
The Orioles will likely want Chen to stay as, even at US$4.75 million, he is undervalued given his performance, local commentators believe.
Last month, Dan Duquette, the Orioles’ executive vice president of baseball operations, praised Chen as a player who can bring victory and expressed hope of keeping him.
Chen was paid US$3.072 million and US$3.573 million respectively in his first two seasons and is to receive US$4.072 million this season. If he can maintain his good performance next season, his value on the free-agent market is expected to climb even higher.
In San Francisco, Buster Posey drove in three runs and the Giants took advantage of some poor defense by St Louis first baseman Matt Adams to beat the Cardinals.
Having won the World Series in 2010 and 2012, San Francisco are in good shape to continue their recent knack of taking the ultimate prize in even-numbered years. In 2012, it was St Louis who led San Francisco 3-1 in the NLDS, only for the Giants to reel off three wins to advance.
San Francisco climbed out of an early three-run hole on Wednesday and back-to-back bad throws by Adams in the sixth inning helped the Giants rally to their 6-4 victory.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB