SAN FRANCISCO — The Kansas City Royals have taken pride this season in making their own history, in giving fans a reason to celebrate something more recent than 1985. They have succeeded, sweeping their way to the American League pennant and playing well enough in the World Series to ensure that it will end at Kauffman Stadium.
But to see it through, to raise a trophy as the most unlikely champion in more than a decade, these Royals need to stage a revival of the franchise’s finest hour. They must win Games 6 and 7 at home.
“We know we can do it,” first baseman Eric Hosmer said after bouncing out to end Madison Bumgarner’s four-hitter in Game 5, which gave the San Francisco Giants a three-games-to-two lead. “We’ve got a confident group in here.”
Recent history would give them a strong foundation for that confidence. Going home for Games 6 and 7, even when trailing, has been a recipe for success in the last few decades. Eight of the last 10 times that a team headed home with a 3-2 World Series deficit, it rallied to win the championship.
When the Royals Won the Crown
CreditMeyer Liebowitz/The New York Times
The 1985 Royals, of course, are on that list. So are the celebrated 1986 Mets and both Minnesota teams to win it all (1987 and 1991). The only exceptions are the 1992 Atlanta Braves, who lost to Toronto, and the 2003 Yankees, who lost to the Marlins. Both of those series ended in Game 6.
The Giants have been in this spot before, in precisely the same fashion they are now. Facing the Angels in 2002, the Giants won the first game on the road and then lost Game 2. They lost Game 3 at home but won the next two nights to regain the series lead.
The same sequence happened again in the Giants’ first five games against Kansas City. To conjure some of the Angels’ magic, perhaps the Royals should import some Rally Monkeys and Thunderstix on Tuesday night.
Of course, such examples are fun, but very likely meaningless. Do not expect the Royals to hold a viewing party of old World Series games for inspiration.
“We’re just living in the moment, enjoying it now, knowing we have a good opportunity to go back home and win two games,” Alex Gordon said. “It’s going to be hard to do, but we’re up for the challenge, and we think we can get it done.”
To do it, the Royals need to find what they lost in San Francisco. They have scored in just one of the last 21 innings — a four-run outburst, fueled largely by infield singles, in the third inning of Game 4. Gordon is 2 for 20, Mike Moustakas 3 for 16, and Billy Butler came to bat just once at AT&T Park, striking out on three pitches against Bumgarner.
“I felt good coming into this series; I had played a couple of good games at home,” said Butler, who did not start in San Francisco because there is no designated hitter in National League parks. “When you don’t get at-bats regularly, it’s tough. But that’s the card I’ve been dealt.”
The Royals have struggled to maximize their strengths. They have had few chances to make an impact on the bases, with just one steal in two attempts in the World Series. The Giants finally got to their late-game relievers Sunday, going 4 for 9 and scoring three runs off Kelvin Herrera and Wade Davis.
And the Royals’ defense betrayed them in Game 5, when two balls that just eluded shortstop Alcides Escobar went for critical singles and another softly hit single landed in shallow center field. Jarrod Dyson said he wished he had dived for it.
The Giants will start Jake Peavy against Yordano Ventura in Game 6, reprising the matchup from Game 2. Peavy retired 10 Royals in a row that night before the top of the sixth, when he gave up a single and a walk and was removed. Both runners scored, and Peavy was the losing pitcher.
The simple fact that Peavy does not have the lowest earned run average in World Series history, though, is enough to embolden the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
“We feel good about where we’re at, where we stand,” Dyson said, suggesting the Royals no longer had to worry about Bumgarner. He added, “We’ve got some guys that we can handle, and we can look forward to getting the job done.”
The Royals, actually, may not have seen the last of Bumgarner, who has a 0.29 career E.R.A. in World Series play. He has pitched 265 innings since opening day, but Manager Bruce Bochy said Bumgarner would be available in relief for a possible Game 7.
That would be scintillating theater — not just because of Bumgarner, but because of history. No team has won Game 6 at home only to lose Game 7 since the Boston Red Sox in 1975, against the Cincinnati Reds.
The first reliever out of Cincinnati’s bullpen that night was Jack Billingham, who threw two scoreless innings as the Reds’ relievers stifled the Red Sox to the finish. He is the same Billingham who held the record for the best E.R.A. in World Series history, minimum 25 innings, until Bumgarner broke it Sunday.