World Series Game 1: An Epic Night Fit for Heroes
By Jason Lisk
Sing to me of the men, Muse, the men of twists and turns, driven time and again off course. For three-score years wandering to find their way home. The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets have both waited for decades to find their way to another World Series title, after they both won in dramatic, memorable fashion in the mid-80’s. Their desperation came through with a back-and-forth affair that saw huge emotional swings and big moments over the course of a marathon affair.
“Epic” is defined in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, variously, as “extending beyond the usual or ordinary especially in size or scope”, or when used as a noun, representing “a long narrative poem in elevated style recounting the deeds of a legendary or historical hero.”
Epic may be used in modern parlance to describe just about anything. An event that happens on regular occasion but happens to be captured on a video phone and uploaded to YouTube may provide an epic fail. Describe something like Halloween costumes as epic and wait for the clicks. Go with epic and then also categorize something as being EVERYTHING and you are truly Homer’s progeny. The word has lost all meaning when diluted by things that are not, in fact, epic.
Last night did justice to the word. A shortened five hours of sleep and contemplation does not change the amazement, and that game will be remembered as a unique part of the baseball postseason.
And it’s probably not original on my part to say so. Jayson Stark of ESPN wrote about an epic Game 1. Dan Shaughnessy’s article talked of an epic World Series opener. Hardball Talk described it as an epic drama. Will Leitch was ahead of the curve, prophesying an epic World Series.
It was a night that started under ominous grey skies, misting water all around as the glow of familiar Royals scoreboard blurred on the horizon. The early concern in the day was that the game might be postponed or delayed late into the night. As the fates would have it, the game would go into the next morning, but not because of water. It was not Poseidon, but rather Hades, Ares, Athena, and Caerus who would hold sway, before Nike’s winner was declared.
The night began with news filtering out on social media that Edinson Volquez’ father had passed away earlier in the day. Volquez took the mound. There were conflicting reports as to whether he knew. Ultimately, Ned Yost would say that the family requested that he not be told of the sad news until after he had finished pitching in the World Series opener, and Fox’s decision not to broadcast it where players may see it in the clubhouse proved prudent.
That would have been a major story earlier in the evening; the contest was, in truth, not even half over when Volquez’ final pitch was thrown and his part fully played.
Alcides Escobar, whose Achilles’ Heel is taking pitches as a leadoff hitter, got an opening fastball Matt Harvey that he cranked into the Yoenis Cespedes’ sprinting path, before it rolled away down the warning track. An inside-the-park home run. The night featured a delay while the broadcast signal went out. It involved 36 players, playing various roles as hero and foil. The Mets used three different players in the DH spot, hitting in the ninth spot. The Royals used two, when Jarrod Dyson pinch-ran for Kendrys Morales in the 8th, and continued to play for another 6 innings exclusively as a hitter. I’m not sure you’ll find another game in baseball history where five different players batted as the DH.
Juan Lagares looked to be the unlikely hero of Game 1, coming on for Michael Conforto, and getting his first at-bat in the eighth. Royals’ reliever Kelvin Herrera had been dominant in the postseason, striking out nearly two batters per inning. Lagares fouled off pitch after pitch, before lining a single to center, stealing second base, and then coming home to score the go-ahead run on Eric Hosmer’s error.
It was the at-bat of the game, until Alex Gordon happened. Jeurys Familia had been lights out for the Mets over the second half of the season. The concern of sportswriters was bridging between the Mets’ starters and Familia. Tyler Clippard had given up a leadoff double to Ben Zobrist, before striking out both Lorenzo Cain and Eric Hosmer in two bad at-bats. Familia came in to complete that bridge after a two-out walk in the bottom of the 8th. It appeared to be the key moment–only a bloop hit, a seeing-eye grounder, was necessary to tie it. Mike Moustakas grounded out to short.
But Gordon changed all that with a Zeus lightning bolt shot directly at the Crown in centerfield. It was the first 9th inning game-tying home run since Scott Brosius for the New York Yankees in 2001. That sparked five more innings, two more hours of drama. 6’10” Chris Young going deep into the night against 42-year-old Bartolo Colon, pitching in his first World Series game after 18 years, as we all suspected when the night began. It ended after the stroke of midnight local time, with an epic bat flip on a sacrifice fly.
The Series is just getting started. These teams are built to win in close, low-scoring contests with the Mets’ power arms and the Royals’ power bullpen. But it would be hard to top the epic that was Game 1.