The World Series between the New York Mets and the Kansas City Royals, so far, has been a tale of two stories that resulted in two losses for the team from Queens.
The Game 1 matchup featured a strange, gripping back-and-forth affair that couldn't have been crazier. The Kansas City Royals needed 14 innings and more than five hours to knock off the New York Mets in a contest that featured power outages, a leadoff inside-the-park home run and a walk-off sacrifice fly.
The stage was full of the unpredictable. Two-time Gold Glove winner Eric Hosmer botched a grounder in the top half of the eighth that put the Mets up 4-3. It was just the second error made by the Royals in the entire postseason.
In the ninth inning, Mets closer Jeurys Familia surrendered his first blown save since July 30 on an Alex Gordon game-tying homer.
Game 2 -- though advertised as such -- didn't come with the theater and drama that Game 1 encompassed. But it still had its moments.
Royals' Johnny Cueto came into the game with a 7.88 ERA this postseason to Mets' Jacob deGrom's 1.80. But Cueto turned back the clock to the dominant force he was in Cincinnati.
The former All-Star pitched a complete game, giving up just two bloop hits to Lucas Duda, the rest of the team was 0-for-25.
According to ESPN's Jonah Keri, he was the first pitcher in baseball history to throw a complete game after allowing eight runs or more in a previous start. And if you saw that Game 5 against the Toronto Blue Jays, Cueto was abysmal.
deGrom was cruising through the fifth, but a leadoff walk to Alex Gordon opened up a can of worms that ended with him surrendering four runs on five hits.
Of deGrom's 94 pitches, the Royals only had three swing and misses. Kansas City is a high-contact team that grinds their opponents down. Oh, and they don't strike out. You want some perspective on that, other than the game you watched? Take a look at Fangraphs' Jeff Sullivan's piece.
The Royals fight off tough pitchers' pitches, and essentially, go against the grain of new-age stats and sabermetrics that suggest that there isn't a difference between a strikeout and a groundout.
The series switches to New York. For the Mets, it couldn't have come at a better time. It is still early, but for any player with a pulse, it must be a gut check to have a squad beat your horses two nights in a row.
Noah Syndergaard takes the bump on Friday. He might be New York's hardest punch. After all, the Mets might have figured out that it's hard to beat the better team in a 15-round heavyweight bout. Your best bet might be to knock 'em out early.
See you in Flushing.