Playoff Miscellany: It’ll Be the Royals and the Mets

For the second straight year, the Kansas City Royals get a shot to win it all in the World Series. Last year, the San Francisco Giants’ freakish win-it-every-other-year power stood in the way. This year, it’s the New York Mets.

• The Blue Jays had tied the game, dramatically, in the 8th inning on a two-run Jose Bautista homer, his second of the game:

• Ned Yost was getting blasted for not using his top reliever, Wade Davis in that situation. Davis subsequently entered, but then the rains came, and the game was delayed for 45 minutes. Incredibly, despite sitting for an hour, Davis came back into the game to finish things out in the 9th. He allowed a walk and a single before striking out two and getting a groundout to end it. But about that second strikeout, it came after a 2-1 pitch that was clearly outside by a good bit, was called a strike, and moved the count to 2-2 rather than 3-1. Big swing pitch, and a big missed call.
• After the delay, the decisive run came immediately in the bottom of the 8th, as Lorenzo Cain scored from first base on an Eric Hosmer single:

• Great job of baserunning there, and a great send at third base. Reminiscent of the non-send last year in the World Series, though it requires noting that Alex Gordon almost certainly would have been meat.
• It was a great job by the Blue Jays of making the series relatively close and exciting (*looks at Cubs, puts hands in pockets, kicks dirt*), but they’ll head on home. They traded aggressively to get to where they got, and I still think they’d say it was worth it.
• And now a huge lull before the World Series begins on Tuesday in Kansas City. Edinson Volquez will host Matt Harvey.