Matthew Cerrone
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I see the parallel. The Royals were an up-and-coming team that lost in the World Series to the experienced Giants in 2014, then returned to win it all in 2015. This year, the Mets were the up-and-coming team that lost to the experienced Royals. So, obviously, the story should end in 2016 with the Mets taking the crown. That would be great. In another interesting twist, this October, it had been 30 years since Kansas City’s last championship. Next season, it will be 30 years since 1986. Unfortunately, one thing has nothing to do with the other…
Instead, the common bond between the 2014 Royals and 2015 Mets is heartache and regret.
“I never got over the seventh game of last year’s World Series,” Royals owner David Glass said Sunday, referring to his team’s loss in 2014. “I really felt that the only way we could fix that was to win it all this year. I’ll let you guys know in a day or two whether it did.”
In 2014, the Royals were 90 feet away from tying the Giants in Game 7 of the World Series, but Madison Bumgarner shut them down to win San Francisco’s third championship in six years.
“It was just so painful, coming that close,” Royals OF Lorenzo Cain added. “It was something you think about every day, but it was also something that brought us together.”
Hopefully, if losing does anything, if it has anything in common with Kansas City, it’s that it will help focus, bond and motivate the Mets next season, as it clearly did for the Royals in 2015.
“We’ve proven we can be a World Series contender,” David Wright said with authority on Sunday. “It’s going to be a confident feeling going into spring training and something we can rally around and say, ‘We were close last year, let’s do it this year.’”
The thing is, while experience and confidence have value, it’s not enough to sustain success. There is real off-season work to be done here, especially since Wright’s team will be a target in 2016. This Mets have amazing young pitching and a few position players to build around. But, to keep wind in their sails, Sandy Alderson must create a more balanced, sure-handed, athletic roster. Poignant quotes and fun memories can only get a franchise so far. Instead, it takes talent to win, and his roster still has holes…
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from Metsblog http://ift.tt/1LOhtmt
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