The 2015 World Series was the 111th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series, a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champions New York Mets and the American League (AL) champions Kansas City Royals.
The Royals had home field advantage for the first two games of the series because of the AL's 6-3 victory in the 2015 All-Star Game. It was the 13th World Series in which home field advantage was awarded to the league that won the All-Star Game.
Matt Harvey started Game 1 for the Mets, while Edinson Volquez started for the Royals. Volquez's father had died earlier in the day. He was not aware of his father's death until after he left the game. On the first pitch thrown by Harvey, Alcides Escobar hit an inside-the-park home run, the first in a World Series game since Mule Haas in the 1929 World Series (and the first hit by a leadoff batter since Patsy Dougherty did it for the Boston Americans (now Red Sox) in 1903). In the fourth inning, Daniel Murphy recorded the Mets' first hit, and later scored their first run on a hit by Travis d'Arnaud. Curtis Granderson hit a home run in the fifth inning to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Eric Hosmer reduced the lead to 3-2 with a sacrifice fly, and set a new Royals' postseason run batted in (RBI) record in the process. A single by Mike Moustakas tied the game at three, but in the top of the eighth, Wilmer Flores reached on an fielding error by Hosmer, allowing Juan Lagares to score the go-ahead run and give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Alex Gordon tied the game for the Royals with a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning, as Jeurys Familia blew his first save in six opportunities this postseason. In the bottom of the 14th inning, Escobar reached first base on a throwing error by David Wright, and Bartolo Colon gave up a base hit to Ben Zobrist, allowing Escobar to reach third base. Hosmer hit a sacrifice fly to Granderson in right field to drive in the winning run.
In Game 2, Jacob deGrom started for the Mets, and Johnny Cueto started for the Royals. The Mets scored the first run of the game with a Lucas Duda single that scored Murphy in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, the Royals scored four runs on RBI singles by Alcides Escobar, Eric Hosmer, and Mike Moustakas. The Royals scored three more runs in the eighth inning. Cueto pitched a complete game, the first by an AL pitcher in the World Series since Jack Morris in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, as the Royals defeated the Mets and took a two games to zero lead in the series.
At Citi Field, Game 3 was started by Yordano Ventura of the Royals and Noah Syndergaard of the Mets. With no designated hitter (DH) in NL parks, the Mets started Michael Conforto, their DH for Game 2, in the outfield instead of Juan Lagares, and the Royals did not start Kendrys Morales, their regular DH. Ben Zobrist scored the Royals' first run in the first inning on a force play. The first pitch thrown by Syndergaard was over the head of Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar causing the Royals to complain. In the bottom of the first inning, David Wright responded with a two-run home run that also scored Curtis Granderson. For the Royals, Alex Rios drove Salvador Perez home in the second inning, and scored on a passed ball by Travis d'Arnaud, giving the Royals a 3–2 lead. Granderson hit a two-run home run in the third inning, and the Mets took a 4–3 lead. The Mets added a run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Conforto, and four more in the sixth inning.
The starting pitchers for Game 4 were Chris Young of the Royals and Steven Matz of the Mets. Conforto scored the game's first run with a home run in the third inning, and Wilmer Flores scored later in the inning. Conforto hit another home run in the fifth inning, becoming the first rookie to hit two home runs in a World Series game since Andruw Jones in the 1996 World Series. In the sixth inning, Zobrist hit his eighth double of the postseason, tying a postseason record previously set by Albert Pujols and David Freese of the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals. After a key fielding error by Murphy, the Royals took the lead in the eighth inning off Tyler Clippard (who walked two of the three hitters he faced) and Familia, who had his second blown save of the series, and second out of seven opportunities this postseason, though this one could be partly attributed because of Murphy's error. Wade Davis converted a two-inning save for the Royals, his fourth overall this postseason.
Volquez returned to the Dominican Republic for his father's funeral the day after Game 1, but returned to the Royals in time to start Game 5. Harvey started for the Mets. Granderson led off the first inning with a home run for the Mets, and scored the Mets' second run in the sixth inning. The Mets had a chance to break the game open in that sixth inning as they loaded the bases with nobody out, but had to settle for one run after Cespedes lined a foul ball off his leg and was injured, leaving the game after popping up for the first out of the inning. Duda hit a sacrifice fly before D'arnaud grounded out to end the inning. Harvey pitched eight shutout innings for the Mets. It appeared manager Terry Collins would go to Familia, his closer, for the ninth inning, but Harvey convinced Collins to keep him in the game. He then gave up a leadoff walk to Lorenzo Cain in the ninth inning, and the Royals got a run when Hosmer drove Cain in with a double, prompting Collins to go get Familia. After a Mike Moustakas groundout advanced Hosmer to third base with one out, Salvador Pérez hit a ground ball to third baseman David Wright, who after checking Hosmer at third, threw to first base for the second out; however, Hosmer broke for home as soon as the ball was thrown, and Lucas Duda, who fielded the out at first, threw wide at home attempting to throw Hosmer out, and the latter scored the tying run, resulting in Familia blowing his third save of the postseason and the series; his eight save opportunities tied the postseason record set in 2002 by Robb Nen. In the top of the twelfth inning, with Addison Reed pitching for the Mets, Perez hit a single for the Royals. Pinch running for Perez, Jarrod Dyson stole a base and scored on a single by pinch hitter Christian Colon, who scored on a hit by Paulo Orlando. The Royals loaded the bases, and Cain drove home three more runs with a double off Bartolo Colon. Davis pitched a shutout inning for the Royals to complete the game, series, and baseball season.
The 2015 World Series began on October 27th and ended on November 2nd, with the Royals winning the Fall Classic 4 games to 1 – their first title in 30 years. It was the first time since 2010 that the World Series extended into November. The Royals became the first team since the Oakland Athletics in 1989, to win the World Series after losing in the previous year.
"We came back and won a world championship. Words can't even describe how awesome this feels right now. Couldn't have done it with a better group of guys. We battled since Day 1, Minor Leagues a lot of us, and this is an unbelievable feeling." - Hosmer, Eric. Mighty KC! Royals rise in 9th, rule the World. DiComo, Anthony. MLB Staff Writer. 2 November 2015.
2015 World Series2015 World Series Official Logo ← 2014 | Kansas City Royals (4) vs New York Mets (3) | 2016 → |
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2015 World Series Fast Facts | |||
Game 1 | Date | Box Score | 10-27-2015 | |
Location | Kauffman Stadium | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
George Brett (Royals HOF'er) | Mike Moustakas | ||
Attendance | 40,320 | ||
National Anthem (Pre-Game) | Andy Grammer (Pop singer & songwriter) | ||
God Bless America (7th Inning) | Technical Sergeant Keisha Gwin (U.S. Air Force Band of Mid-America) | ||
Game 2 | Date | Box Score | 10-28-2015 | |
Location | Kauffman Stadium | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Col. Don Ballard (Medal of Honor recipient) | Drew Butera | ||
Lt. Col. Charles C. Hagemeister (Medal of Honor recipient) | Drew Butera | ||
Col. Roger Donlon (Medal of Honor recipient) | Drew Butera | ||
Attendance | 40,410 | ||
National Anthem (Pre-Game) | Sara Evans (Country music singer & songwriter) | ||
God Bless America (7th Inning) | Airman First Class Michelle Doolittle (U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West) | ||
Game 3 | Date | Box Score | 10-30-2015 | |
Location | Citi Field | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Mike Piazza (Mets HOF'er) | Kevin Plawecki | ||
Attendance | 44,781 | ||
National Anthem (Pre-Game) | Billy Joel (Pop & Rock pianist, singer-songwriter & composer) | ||
God Bless America (7th Inning) | Master Sergeant Mary Kay Messenger (vocalist with the West Point Band) | ||
Game 4 | Date | Box Score | 10-31-2015 | |
Location | Citi Field | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Tim McGraw (son of Tug McGraw) | John Franco | ||
Attendance | 44,815 | ||
National Anthem (Pre-Game) | Demi Lovato (Pop & Rock singer, songwriter, actress & model) | ||
God Bless America (7th Inning) | Makiah Brown (NYPD Officer) | ||
Game 5 | Date | Box Score | 11-01-2015 | |
Location | Citi Field | ||
1st Pitch | From | To | |
Cleon Jones (Mets All-Star) | Kirk Nieuwenhuis | ||
Mookie Wilson (Member of the 1986 Mets) | Matt Reynolds | ||
Darryl Strawberry (Mets All-Star) | Kevin Plawecki | ||
Attendance | 44,859 | ||
National Anthem (Pre-Game) | Frank Pizarro (FDNY firefighter) | ||
America The Beautiful (Pre-Game) | Tony Bennett (With 12 students from the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts) | ||
God Bless America (7th Inning) | Frank Pizarro (FDNY firefighter) | ||
2015 World Series | |||
2015 World Series History | Research by Baseball Almanac |
Game 1 of the 2015 World SeriesLine Score | Box Score |
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2015 World Series Game 1 Capsule | |||||||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | R | H | E |
New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | 1 |
Kansas City | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 1 |
New York Pitcher(s) | Kansas City Pitcher(s) | ||||||||||||||||
Matt Harvey Addison Reed (7th) Tyler Clippard (8th) Jeurys Familia (8th) Jon Niese (10th) Bartolo Colon (12th, L) - |
Edinson Volquez Danny Duffy (7th) Kelvin Herrera (7th) Luke Hochevar (9th) Wade Davis (10th) Ryan Madson (11th) Chris Young (12th, W) |
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New York Home Runs | Kansas City Home Runs | ||||||||||||||||
Curtis Granderson (5th) - |
Alcides Escobar (1st) Alex Gordon (9th) |
Game 2 of the 2015 World SeriesLine Score | Box Score |
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2015 World Series Game 2 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
New York | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | x | 7 | 10 | 0 |
New York Pitcher(s) | Kansas City Pitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Jacob deGrom (L) Hansel Robles (6th) Jon Niese (7th) Addison Reed (8th) Sean Gilmartin (8th) |
Johnny Cueto (W) - - - - |
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New York Home Runs | Kansas City Home Runs | |||||||||||
None | None |
Game 3 of the 2015 World SeriesLine Score | Box Score |
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2015 World Series Game 3 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
Kansas City | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 0 |
New York | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | x | 9 | 12 | 0 |
Kansas City Pitcher(s) | New York Pitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Yordano Ventura (L) Danny Duffy (4th) Luke Hochevar (5th) Franklin Morales (6th) Kelvin Herrera (6th) Ryan Madson (7th) Kris Medlen (8th) |
Noah Syndergaard (W Addison Reed (7th) Tyler Clippard (8th) Jeurys Familia (9th) - - - |
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Kansas City Home Runs | New York Home Runs | |||||||||||
None - |
David Wright (1st) Curtis Granderson (3rd) |
Game 4 of the 2015 World SeriesLine Score | Box Score |
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2015 World Series Game 4 Capsule | ||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 0 |
New York | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
Kansas City Pitcher(s) | New York Pitcher(s) | |||||||||||
Chris Young Danny Duffy (5th) Luke Hochevar (6th) Ryan Madson (8th, W) Wade Davis (8th, S) - - |
Steven Matz Jon Niese (6th) Bartolo Colon (6th) Addison Reed (7th) Tyler Clippard (8th, L Jeurys Familia (8th) Hansel Robles (9th) |
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Kansas City Home Runs | New York Home Runs | |||||||||||
None - |
Michael Conforto (3rd) Michael Conforto (5th) |
Game 5 of the 2015 World SeriesLine Score | Box Score |
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2015 World Series Game 5 Capsule | |||||||||||||||
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E |
Kansas City | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
New York | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Kansas City Pitcher(s) | New York Pitcher(s) | ||||||||||||||
Edinson Volquez Kelvin Herrera (7th) Luke Hochevar (10th, W) Wade Davis (12th) - |
Matt Harvey Jeurys Familia (9th) Jon Niese (11th) Addison Reed (12th, L) Bartolo Colon (12th) |
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Kansas City Home Runs | New York Home Runs | ||||||||||||||
None | Curtis Granderson (3rd) |
2015 World SeriesKansas City Royals 2015 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics |
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25-Man Roster | POS | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | Avg | BB | SO | SB | |
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. |
Drew Butera Lorenzo Cain Christian Colon Johnny Cueto Wade Davis Danny Duffy Jarrod Dyson Alcides Escobar Alex Gordon Kelvin Herrera Luke Hochevar Eric Hosmer Ryan Madson Kris Medlen Raul Mondesi Franklin Morales Kendrys Morales Mike Moustakas Paulo Orlando Salvador Perez Alex Rios Yordano Ventura Edinson Volquez Chris Young Ben Zobrist |
c cf ph p p p dh ss lf p p 1b p p ph p dh 3b rf c rf p p p 2b |
1 5 1 1 3 3 3 5 5 3 4 5 3 1 1 1 5 5 5 5 5 1 2 2 5 |
0 22 1 0 1 0 3 26 18 0 0 21 0 0 1 0 10 23 8 22 15 0 2 1 23 |
0 5 1 0 0 0 0 6 4 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 7 1 8 2 0 1 0 6 |
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 3 1 0 0 0 1 4 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 2 0 0 0 5 |
0 4 1 0 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 |
.000 .227 1.000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .232 .222 .000 .000 .190 .000 .000 .000 .000 .200 .304 .125 .364 .133 .000 .500 .000 .261 |
0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 |
0 6 0 0 1 0 1 4 4 0 0 7 0 0 1 0 3 1 1 2 2 0 1 1 2 |
0 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
Totals | 197 | 47 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 27 | 25 | .239 | 17 | 37 | 7 | |||
2015 World SeriesNew York Mets 2015 World Series Composite Hitting Statistics |
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25-Man Roster | POS | G | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | R | RBI | Avg | BB | SO | SB | |
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. |
Yoenis Cespedes Tyler Clippard Bartolo Colon Michael Conforto Michael Cuddyer Travis d'Arnaud Jacob deGrom Lucas Duda Jeurys Familia Wilmer Flores Sean Gilmartin Curtis Granderson Matt Harvey Kelly Johnson Juan Lagares Steven Matz Daniel Murphy Jon Niese Kirk Nieuwenhuis Kevin Plawecki Addison Reed Hansel Robles Noah Syndergaard Juan Uribe David Wright |
lf,cf p p lf-4,dh-1 dh c p 1b p ss p rf p dh cf p 2b p cf-1,dh-1,ph-2 Did Not Play p p p ph 3b |
5 3 3 5 1 5 1 5 4 5 1 5 2 3 5 1 5 4 3 - 5 2 1 1 5 |
20 0 0 15 3 21 0 19 0 17 0 20 3 3 10 1 20 0 2 - 0 0 2 1 24 |
3 0 0 5 0 3 0 5 0 1 0 5 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 - 0 0 1 1 5 |
0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 1 |
1 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 6 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 - 0 0 1 1 1 |
1 0 0 4 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 1 4 |
.150 .000 .000 .333 .000 .143 .000 .263 .000 .059 .000 .250 .000 .000 .300 .000 .150 .000 .000 - .000 .000 .500 1.000 .208 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 1 |
6 0 0 3 3 4 0 7 0 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 7 0 1 - 0 0 1 0 8 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 0 0 |
Totals | 181 | 35 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 19 | 18 | .193 | 14 | 46 | 1 | |||
2015 World Series Composite Batting Statistics | Bold = World Series MVP |
2015 World SeriesKansas City Royals 2015 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics |
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Pitching Staff | W | L | G | GS | CG | S | Sh | IP | ERA | H | SO | ER | BB |
Johnny Cueto Wade Davis Danny Duffy Kelvin Herrera Luke Hochevar Ryan Madson Kris Medlen Franklin Morales Yordano Ventura Edinson Volquez Chris Young |
1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 |
1 3 3 3 4 3 1 1 1 2 2 |
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 |
1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
9.0 4.0 2.1 5.0 5.0 3.0 1.0 0.1 3.1 12.0 7.0 |
1.00 0.00 3.86 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 108.00 13.50 3.00 2.57 |
2 3 2 5 2 2 0 2 7 8 2 |
4 8 3 6 2 5 2 0 1 8 7 |
1 0 1 0 0 0 0 4 5 4 2 |
3 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 6 2 |
Totals | 4 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 52.0 | 2.94 | 35 | 46 | 17 | 14 |
2015 World SeriesNew York Mets 2015 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics |
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Pitching Staff | W | L | G | GS | CG | S | Sh | IP | ERA | H | SO | ER | BB |
Tyler Clippard Bartolo Colon Jacob deGrom Jeurys Familia Sean Gilmartin Matt Harvey Steven Matz Jon Niese Addison Reed Hansel Robles Noah Syndergaard |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 |
1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 |
3 3 1 4 1 2 1 4 5 2 1 |
0 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 |
2.0 3.1 5.0 5.0 0.2 14.0 5.0 4.2 3.2 2.0 6.0 |
9.00 0.00 7.20 1.80 0.00 3.21 3.60 5.79 9.82 0.00 4.50 |
1 4 6 3 0 10 7 5 4 0 7 |
2 1 2 3 0 11 5 4 1 2 6 |
2 0 4 1 0 5 2 3 4 0 3 |
3 3 3 0 0 4 0 1 1 0 2 |
Totals | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 51.1 | 4.21 | 47 | 37 | 24 | 17 |
2015 World Series Composite Pitching Statistics | Bold = World Series MVP |
This was the first World Series in which both teams were expansion teams, which are teams that were formed after the 1960 season; the New York Mets began play in 1962, while the Kansas City Royals began play in 1969.
Game 1 of the 2015 World Series tied the Fall Classic record for longest game by innings in World Series history, shared with Game 2 of the 1916 World Series and Game 3 of the 2005 World Series.
In the fifth inning of Game 3, Raul Mondesi (Jr.) made his Major League Baseball debut, pinch hitting for Danny Duffy, and the young Royals prospect became the first player ever to make his big league debut in a World Series.