The 111th Major League Baseball World Series gets underway live online Tuesday night as the Kansas City Royals watch the New York Mets invade their home turf at Kauffman Stadium, looking to stop Kansas City’s bid for a World Series title yet again. The Royals lost in seven games to the San Francisco Giants in 2014, but while the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner almost single-handedly contained them last year, this time around the Royals have at least three ace pitchers to contend with on the Mets’ staff.
Watch a World Series preview video by veteran baseball reporter Bob Nightengale of USA Today in the clip at the top of this page. To find out how to watch World Series Game One, the New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals, live online, see the streaming link at the bottom of this article.
On Tuesday, the Royals’ hitters will have to contend with perhaps the best of those three aces, 26-year-old Connecticut native Matt Harvey, who has won both of his postseason starts after finishing his first season back from Tommy John surgery with a 13-8 record and a stellar 2.71 ERA in 189 1/3 innings pitched for the Mets.
The first game of the 2015 World Series will also be Harvey’s first career start against Kansas City, and he has never faced any of the current Royals hitters, except for outfielder Alex Rios , who has one hit in just three career at-bats against the New York right-hander.
Mets hitters have considerably more experience against the Royals’ World Series Game One starter, Edinson Volquez. The 32-year-old from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, pitched seven of his 11 career seasons in the National League, coming to the Royals from the Pittsburgh Pirates as a free agent signing last offseason .
But, while Mets hitters at least have the advantage of familiarity with Volquez, they have also experienced limited success against the Kansas City right-hander. The Mets postseason sensation, Daniel Murphy, has the best look at Volquez of any Mets’ batter with six hits and three walks in 18 plate appearances.
But, though Murphy is riding a stunning postseason record streak of six straight games with a home run, neither he nor any Mets’ batter has ever homered off of Volquez.
Whoever wins this World Series, the victory will mark the end of a three-decade championship drought. The Royals won their first, last, and only World Series in 1985, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
The Mets won the second of their two World Series titles in 1986, beating the Boston Red Sox, also in seven games. But, although New York returned to the Fall Classic in 2000, they lost that one to their crosstown rival, the New York Yankees.
The first World Series was played in 1903, but the 111th edition will be the first played between two expansion franchises. The Mets joined the National League in 1962 when the league expanded from eight teams to 10. The Royals debuted in the American League in 1969, as both leagues grew from 10 teams to 12 each. Until 2015, every other World Series involved at least one of the original 16 teams who were part of the Major Leagues when that first Series was played more than a century ago.
Can the New York Mets take the first step toward the third World Series title in the 53-year history of their franchise? Or will the Kansas City Royals take advantage of their home field to get the first win of the 2015 World Series in their column?
To find out, watch the New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals World Series Game One live online from Kansas City, Missouri, by going to Fox Sports Go at this link or by downloading the Fox Sports Go app to watch the game on mobile devices. Fox Sports Go also streams live on the Amazon Fire TV device, allowing fans to watch the Mets vs. Royals game live online on their TV sets.
Game time for the New York Mets vs. Kansas City Royals World Series Game One is scheduled for 7:07 p.m. Central Time at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. That’s 8:07 Eastern, 5:07 p.m. Pacific — but rain is in the forecast, so there is at least a chance that the start of the game could be delayed.
[Statistics courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com ] [Featured Images By Sean M. Haffey / Eric Christian Smith / Getty Images]
