Game 7 of the 1986 World Series, won by the Mets, took place on October 27. Game 1 of the 2015 World Series takes place on October 27. Mets fans like to worry about stuff a lot and a good many of them believe in signs and omens, most of them bad, the poor things. But maybe this little coincidence will cheer them up as they wait for the first pitch tonight.
Oh wait, Game 7 of the 1985 World Series, won by the Royals, took place on October 27th too. Guess that makes it a wash. Resume worrying, Mets fans.
The Game: New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals
The Time: 8:07 PM Eastern.
The Place: Kauffman Stadium
The Channel: Fox -- like the one you can get with an antenna and no cable package.
The Starters: Matt Harvey vs. Edinson Volquez
The Upshot: Matt Harvey hasn’t pitched in 10 days. He tends to be a good bet on long rest in his career, however, having allowed only 14 earned runs in 94.2 innings pitched and striking out 121 batters with 6+ days of rest. Not that rust may not be an issue, as it appeared to be in his NLDS game against the Dodgers, which also came after a long layoff.
For the Royals it’s Edinson Volquez, who was 13-9 with a 3.55 ERA during the regular season and 1-2 with a 4.32 ERA in three starts in the playoffs. The Royals are hoping they get the Volquez who tossed six shutout innings against Toronto in Game 1 of the ALCS and not the one who got lit up for five in Game 5.
My whole preview of the Series is here. Overall, we all know what we’re getting: a strength vs. strength matchup between Mets starters, who have amazing stuff and strike out batters in droves -- while walking very few -- and Royals hitters who had the highest contact rate in the majors this season. We have a Royals bullpen which will make the game short. We have a Mets lineup which is far more potent than their season-long stats suggest. Indeed, they were about the best offense in baseball down the stretch and have continued that trend in the playoffs. The Royals themselves are scoring 5.7 runs a game in the postseason.
The first game of a World Series tends to be like round one of championship boxing match in which the fighters are feeling each other out. The bell rings in less than 11 hours.
