Baseball

How will the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals fare against each other in the 2015 World Series? We're about to find out.

In the meantime, here's a thought experiment: What if these two franchises stepped into a flux capacitor-equipped DeLorean and traveled back in time to face themselves?

Specifically, what if the current Royals played a best-of-seven series against the 1985 Royals, the last K.C. club to win it all? And what if the '15 Mets squared off against the 1986 world champion Amazins?

One of the most evenly matched World Series in recent memory will open at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City on Tuesday when the Royals host the New York Mets in Game 1, which is listed as a pick’em at most sp

On Monday, the Kansas City Royals announced their pitching rotation for the World Series, which begins Tuesday at Kauffman Stadium against the New York Mets. 

With the way this postseason unfolded, you almost knew a long-suffering organization would end up on top at the culmination of the 2015 World Series.

That's guaranteed to be the case over the next several days, no matter who comes out on top between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals. A club that hasn't hoisted the Commissioner's Trophy in 29 years (New York) or 30 years (Kansas City) will do just that in early November to cap off a magical playoff run.

Three decades' worth of postseason futility will come to an end for either the Kansas City Royals or New York Mets this season. Based on the way things are going, that's a good thing for the secondary ticket market.

If pitching truly wins championships, congratulations to the New York Mets on their 2015 World Series title.

The Mets finished the season No. 4 in team ERA (3.45), an edge that carried over into October. Through nine postseason bouts, they sport a 2.81 ERA, accumulating 91 strikeouts through 80 innings.

It's been a long time coming for the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals, but one of the two will end a treacherous title drought in the 2015 World Series.

The Royals came suffocatingly close to doing just that this time last year, when they took the San Francisco Giants the distance in a seven-game championship series. While they haven't won the title since 1985, the Mets won it in 1986 and haven't been back to the promised land since.

One of these teams is four wins away from winning a World Series for the first time since the Reagan administration.

The New York Mets, behind their young stud pitchers and the magician David Murphy, will be in Kansas City on Tuesday night to take on a Kansas City Royals team that looks to avenge last year's heartbreaking seven-game loss in the Fall Classic to the San Francisco Giants.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Matching 'em up and breaking 'em down, from top to bottom, side to side, east to west, Daniel Murphy to Alcides Escobar, Mr. Met to Sluggerrr: the World Series teams, the cities, the fastballs, the drama. Game 1, first pitch 8:07 p.m. ET on Fox on Tuesday night. Cracker Jack on us.

1. This World Series Explained in Two Paragraphs

Each one of Daniel Murphy's home runs this October wasn't accompanied by a cartoon cash-register sound effect, though they all probably should have been.

Murphy slugged the New York Mets to the World Series, sure. But he's also bashing himself toward a hefty free-agent payday this winter.

How hefty will it be? And how hefty should it be? Let's parse those questions.