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Kansas City Royals win their first World Series since 1985

By Jerry Beach, The Sports Xchange
Kansas City Royals catcher Drew Butera (9) and relief pitcher Wade Davis (17) celebrate after New York Mets batter Wilmer Flores (4) struck out to end the 12th inning and give the Royals a 7-2 World Series Championship in game 5 of the World Series at Citi Field in New York City on November 1, 2015. Photo by Ray Stubblebine/UPI
1 of 12 | Kansas City Royals catcher Drew Butera (9) and relief pitcher Wade Davis (17) celebrate after New York Mets batter Wilmer Flores (4) struck out to end the 12th inning and give the Royals a 7-2 World Series Championship in game 5 of the World Series at Citi Field in New York City on November 1, 2015. Photo by Ray Stubblebine/UPI | License Photo

NEW YORK -- As it turns out, all the writers of "Back To The Future II" had to do to predict the 2015 World Series winner was stick with the team that won it all the year "Back to The Future" took place.

For the first time since 1985, the Kansas City Royals are world champions.

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The Royals came back from a two-run deficit in the top of the ninth inning of Game 5 on Sunday night before pinch hitter Christian Colon laced a tiebreaking single in the top of the 12th inning as Kansas City beat the New York Mets 7-2.

Shortstop Alcides Escobar hit an RBI double and center fielder Lorenzo Cain added a three-run double later in the 12th for the Royals, who won a record seven postseason games in which they trailed by at least two runs.

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Right-hander Luke Hochevar threw two hitless innings for the win before right-hander Wade Davis struck out three in the bottom of the 12th to seal the win.

Davis fanned shortstop Wilmer Flores and flung his glove in the air to set off a wild celebration at the pitcher's mound by the Royals, who became the first team to win the World Series the year after losing it since the 1989 Oakland Athletics.

Meanwhile, the Mets must wait 'til next year to win their first championship since 1986.

In between championships, the Royals experienced 20 losing seasons, served as the poster boys for the supposed chasm between big and small markets and became a popular punch line for professional futility. In a 2006 episode of "The Simpsons," Marge Simpson browsed a broken-down used book store that had "Kansas City Royals: Forever Champions" in stock.

The Royals finally ended the three-decade championship drought with an approach as retro in today's analytical game as music still on MTV. The strikeout is more accepted now than ever, but Kansas City wore down opposing teams with a grinding, aggressive, one-through-25 approach built on putting the ball in play.

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That is what the Royals did in building the winning rally in the 12th as well as the game-tying rally in the ninth.

Catcher Salvador Perez led off the 12th with a single down the right field line against right-hander Addison Reed. Pinch runner Jarrod Dyson stole second and went to third on a groundout by left fielder Alex Gordon before trotting home on the hit by Colon, who was batting for the first time this postseason.

The Royals forced extra innings in the ninth against Mets right-hander Matt Harvey, who shut Kansas City out on just four hits through eight innings while being serenaded with chants of "HAR-VEY! HAR-VEY!" from the sellout crowd of 44,859.

However, Harvey, who sprinted to the mound to a standing ovation in the ninth inning, walked the leadoff batter, Cain, who promptly stole second. Cain scored on a double to left by first baseman Eric Hosmer.

Harvey was pulled for right-hander Jeurys Familia, who retired third baseman Mike Moustakas on a grounder that moved Hosmer to third. With the infield in, Perez grounded to third. Mets third baseman David Wright looked back Hosmer and fired to first, but Hosmer broke for home with the ball in the air.

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First baseman Lucas Duda threw home, but the throw was wild as Hosmer slid home with the tying run. Familia is the first pitcher to be charged with three blown saves in the same World Series.

The Mets took the 2-0 lead on a first-inning leadoff homer by right fielder Curtis Granderson and a sixth-inning sacrifice fly by Duda.

Royals right-hander Edinson Volquez, pitching about 24 hours after he returned from attending his father's funeral, allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and five walks while striking out five over six innings.

NOTES: The World Series extended into November for the fourth time (2001, 2008, 2009). ... The ceremonial first pitches were thrown by players from the Mets' two World Series champions: Cleon Jones from the 1969 team and Darryl Strawberry and Mookie Wilson from the 1986 squad. ... The Royals had seven multi-walk innings in the playoffs. They had just 50 such innings during the regular season.

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