Kansas City Royals vs. New York Mets Opening Day Preview
The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets will do something on Sunday that major league baseball has never seen before: open the season against their World Series rival from the previous season.
The KC Royals (95-67 in 2015) and NY Mets (90-72 in 2015) will face off in the third game of ESPN’s opening day triple header to kick off the 2016 season on April 3, 2016. The game is scheduled to start 7:37 PM CST at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium.
The day’s marquee matchup will follow the Cardinals at Pirates (12:05 CST) and Blue Jays at Rays (4:05 CST) on ESPN2.
Starting Pitchers
KC Royals: Edinson Volquez (13-9, 3.55 ERA, 2.5 bWAR in 2015)
NY Mets: Matt Harvey (13-8, 2.71 ERA, 4.3 bWAR in 2015)
The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets will reprise the pitching matchup from Game 5 of the World Series from the previous October. In that game, starter Matt Harvey took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning after throwing a now-famous fit when Mets manager Terry Collins considered pulling him for closer Jeurys Familia.
Harvey then gave up a single to Lorenzo Cain and a double to Eric Hosmer to bring the KC Royals within one run. Jeurys Familia then relieved Harvey, but it was already too lake. Hosmer scored from third on Salvador Perez‘s grounder to David Wright.
Eric Hosmer’s mad dash has become the signature play of the 2015 World Series, and is certain to be discussed by baseball fans for decades to come.
The Kansas City Royals went on to win the 2015 title by scoring five runs in the top of the 12th inning.
Next: Expected Lineups
Lineups
The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets return most of the key players from the previous October.
More from KC Royals News
- KC Royals Rumors: Is a monster move in the cards?
- KC Royals Free Agent Hunt: 3 Tampa Bay pitchers
- Grading the 2022 KC Royals: The $25 million man
- KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Expectations met
- KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Day 3 update
Rental second baseman Ben Zobrist and starting pitcher Johnny Cueto left the Kansas City Royals in free-agency, along with right fielder Alex Rios. Former starter Omar Infante takes over at second to open the 2016 season, with free-agent Ian Kennedy coming over from Arizona to join the KC Royals rotation in place of Cueto. The Royals intend to fill right field with a combination of bench players Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando from the 2015 squad, along with 25-year-old prospect Reymond Fuentes.
For the Mets, 2015 playoff hero Daniel Murphy and shortstop Ruben Tejada departed in favor of second baseman Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera at short, who were acquired in off-season trades. Rental Yoenis Cespedes re-signed and will play center on most days, but Juan Lagares will play center in Kansas City with the DH rule in effect.
Kansas City Expected Lineup
CF Lorenzo Cain
1B Eric Hosmer
LF Alex Gordon
2B Omar Infante
New York Mets Expected Lineup
3B David Wright
1B Lucas Duda
2B Neil Walker
CF Juan Lagares
Next: Bullpens And Conclusion
Bullpens
The KC Royals lost Ryan Madson to free-agency and Greg Holland to Tommy John surgery last September. However, former starter Danny Duffy will now take over as the staff lefty to open the 2016 season. Former Royals closer Joakim Soria returns to KC to replace Madson as set-up man for closer Wade Davis. Kelvin Herrera remains to continue the Kansas City Royals now-traditional strong bullpen trio.
Dillon Gee came over from the Mets to become the KC Royals long man, along with reclamation project Chien-Ming Wang. Luke Hochevar remains in middle relief, but is now two years removed from Tommy John surgery in 2014.
More from Kings of Kauffman
- KC Royals Rumors: Is a monster move in the cards?
- KC Royals Free Agent Hunt: 3 Tampa Bay pitchers
- Grading the 2022 KC Royals: The $25 million man
- KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Expectations met
- KC Royals Winter Meetings Tracker: Day 3 update
Jeurys Familia remains the NY Mets closer, despite allowing three blown saves in the 2015 World Series. The Mets poor infield defense, which might be somewhat improved with the departure of the rock-gloved Daniel Murphy, bears more of the blame than Familia.
Addison Reed is still the set-up man, but the Mets lost Tyler Clippard to free-agency. Antonio Bastardo comes over from the Pirates to replace Clippard. New York lost long men Jon Niese (trade) and Dillon Gee (free-agency) over the winter, but figure to get back no. 5 starter Zack Wheeler. Until Wheeler returns, Bartolo Colon will open the season in the rotation, but figures to take over the long-relief role.
Conclusion
Last season, the KC Royals shot out of the gate with seven straight wins fueled in part by anger at humble pre-season projections from most pundits. The Royals also cited losing the 2014 World Series with the tying run 90 feet away for creating a burning motive to repeat in 2015.
The big sub-plot of the 2016 opener is if the Mets will show a similar early-season fire after blowing late leads in three out their four losses in the 2015 World Series. New York can also play the “disrespected” card since pundits and fans across American have crowned NL rival Chicago Cubs as prohibitive favorites in 2016.
I’m sure the Mets aren’t too happy about that.
On the other side, the Kansas City Royals could establish themselves as a dynasty with a championship repeat in 2016. Once again, sabermetric projection systems think little of their chances and rate them among the worst teams in the American League. PECOTA sees 76 wins for the defending World Champions, while Fangraphs.com projections 77 wins. However, those predictions have been largely ignored by human analysts, who regularly rank the KC Royals among the top 5 teams in MLB.
Next: David Glass Sells Royals To Snapchat Founder (April Fools)
Sunday’s game promises to have an October feel with both defending league champions facing off against one another to create over-the-top Opening Day hype. Add in speculation about Kansas City retaining possible anger about Noah Syndergaard‘s opening pitch chin music to Alcides Escobar to being Game 3, along with both teams feeling “disrespected” the begin 2016, and baseball fans will have a spicy brew to savor on Sunday.