Kansas City Royals Countdown: Top 10 Moments of 2014 Postseason Run

10. Eighth-Inning Wild Card Rally

It’s the rally before the rally before the rally. But without this rally, there might not have been the subsequent ones.

The Kansas City Royals entered the eighth inning of the American League Wild Card Game with a 7-3 deficit. Oakland ace Jon Lester came back out for the frame, and the Royals made him pay.

Alcides Escobar singled, stole second and scored on a Lorenzo Cain single. Then Cain stole second and Eric Hosmer walked to end Lester’s night. Luke Gregerson came on in relief, and the Royals made him pay, too.

Oakland ace Jon Lester came back out for the frame, and the Royals made him pay.

Billy Butler greeted him with a run-scoring single before Terrance Gore game on to run for him. Gore stole second to put the tying run in scoring position with one out. Alex Gordon walked to load the bases.

A wild pitch brought home Hosmer and sent Gore to third. Gordon stole second—the fourth steal of the inning. But Salvador Perez‘s miserable night continued with a strikeout. Gregerson followed with a punchout of Omar Infante to end the rally.

Leaving the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position felt like a major wasted opportunity. However, the three-run outburst pulled the Kansas City Royals close enough that just a single ninth-inning run would be enough to send the game to extra innings.

The team—of course—pulled that off, making Sean Doolittle pay, as well. There was a third rally a few innings later, but we’ll get to that in due time.

9. Punching World Series Ticket

After winning their first seven postseason games, the Kansas City Royals were on the precipice of sweeping their way to the World Series. The only thing left to do was to close out the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth inning of Game 4.

In hindsight, the Royals still had a great chance to win the ALCS even with a loss in Game 4. But given the momentum—or sheer luck—the team was riding, it seemed this was the time. Not to mention the possibility of Games 6 and 7 being played on the road.

This felt like the moment. Greg Holland on the mound with a 2-1 lead. No margin for error.

He got two quick strikes on Adam Jones. The veteran free-swinger battled back to draw a rare walk after an eight-pitch at-bat. The tying run had reached first base.

Up stepped Nelson Cruz, who hit a league-leading 40 home runs during the regular season. On a 1-0 pitch, he hit a comebacker to Holland. He threw Jones out at second, but Cruz reached safely.

Next up was Delmon Young—the hero of Baltimore’s ALDS victory over Detroit. He fouled off a few pitches, but Holland got him to chase a slider away to strike out.

On a 1-2 pitch, J.J. Hardy hit a chopper down the third base line. Mike Moustakas fielded it cleanly and fired a strike to Hosmer. The first baseman barely kept his foot on the bag long enough, as he came leaping off the base to celebrate the final out.

8. Alex Gordon Crashes into the Wall

There were many great defensive plays made by the Kansas City Royals during the postseason. We, frankly, could have done a top-10 list solely on defensive moments. But given all the late-inning drama and massive home runs, the defense unfortunately takes a back seat on our countdown.

What can I say? We dig the long ball.

Here, though, we pay tribute to the sensational catch Gordon made to help preserve a 2-1 win over Baltimore in Game 4. In the top of the fifth, Hardy led off with a shot to left field that looked to be certainly over Gordon’s head.

And it was. On a dead run, Gordon extended his left arm out and pulled the ball in on the warning track. His momentum sent him slamming into the wall with a lot of force on his left shoulder.

But he hung on, and so did the Kansas City Royals. Jason Vargas struck out the next two batters, while the bullpen helped close out a one-run game.

Some would argue there were better defensive plays to highlight. That’s fair. Cain made several sliding grabs during the postseason that barely missed the cut. But this catch by Gordon felt different. If he misses that ball—given his inevitable crash—Hardy is likely at third base with nobody out.

Either way, it’s hard to top Ernie Johnson’s call on TBS. “Did he catch, he did catch that ball!” A question turned exclamation mid-sentence. That’s enough to land it on this list.

7. Eric Hosmer: ALDS Game 2 Hero

After a 12-inning affair in the Wild Card Game and an 11-inning victory in ALDS Game 1, the Kansas City Royals were plenty familiar with extra innings by the time Game 2 of the ALDS had reached that point. So it shouldn’t have surprised anyone when the team jumped out to a lead in the 11th inning.

With one out, Cain legged out an infield single. Then came Hosmer. He pulled the first pitch he saw from Kevin Jepsen into the right-field corner seats for a two-run shot. The line-drive blast gave the Kansas City Royals a 3-1 lead.

The team wasn’t done.

After Gordon drew a two-out walk, Vinnie Pestano came on in relief. Gordon stole second and headed to third when the errant throw went into center field. He came home to score on an infield single by Perez.

That was more than enough breathing room for Holland. He made sure Hosmer’s home run stood up with a pair of quick outs. Kole Calhoun extended the game when he reached on an error. Mike Trout came up but—thanks to the insurance run—couldn’t tie the game if he wanted to.

Instead, he struck out to end the game—something that would happen again just days later to send the Kansas City Royals to the ALCS for the first time since 1985.

6. Yordano Ventura Extends the World Series

If you didn’t heed our warning, this would be the time to grab some tissues. This is one those memories that will never be the same when you find the time to reflect on it. Too much has happened since then not to add a tinge of pain to the moment.

Yordano Ventura pitched well in his World Series debut with the Kansas City Royals taking a 7-2 win in Game 2. Unfortunately for Ventura, he took a no-decision as the offense waited too long to break out. In that game, Ventura allowed eight hits but limited the Giants to two runs over 5 1/3 innings.

He had a vibrant personality, with as live an arm as the Kansas City Royals have ever possessed.

He was even better in Game 6, tossing seven shutout innings on an even 100 pitches. Somewhat surprisingly, Ventura struck out only four batters. He gave up just three hits, although he did walk five batters. The offense came through for him that time, too.

A seven-run second inning put the game out of reach early. The lack of drama is the only reason this incredible pitching effort from Ace isn’t higher on the list. Had he done the same thing in a 3-0 win, this performance would probably rank in our top five.

Obviously, this performance has grown in significance with Ventura’s death in January. He had a vibrant personality, with as live an arm as the Kansas City Royals have ever possessed. He was truly one of a kind, and thankfully we still have these memories.

5. Alex Gordon: ALCS Game 1 Hero

The opening game of the ALCS was one of the wilder games of the postseason run. That’s saying something. After blowing a 5-1 lead, the Kansas City Royals found themselves in their fourth extra-inning game out of five postseason contests.

It seemed the Royals’ luck might have run out after squandering a golden chance in the ninth inning. After three consecutive walks to load the bases with nobody out, Hosmer grounded into a fielder’s choice that saw Escobar thrown out at home. Butler grounded into a double-play to end the threat.

Wade Davis made sure the Kansas City Royals had a chance at redemption. He struck out the side on 11 pitches to send the game to extra innings. The Royals finally had the Orioles right where they wanted them.

Three pitches into the 10th inning, Kansas City was back on top. Gordon took Darren O’Day, who came on in the ninth to face Butler, deep into the right-field seats. The blast gave the Royals a 6-5 lead.

Perez followed with a walk before an Infante strikeout. Brian Matusz came on to face Moustakas. That didn’t end well for the Orioles either. On a full-count, Moose hit a two-run homer that proved important.

That’s because Baltimore forced across a run against Holland in the bottom of the 10th. The Orioles even had the possible winning run at the plate, but Nick Markakis grounded out to end the game.

4. Mike Moustakas: ALDS Game 1 Hero

Moustakas grew up in Southern California. He hit his first career home run on the road against the Angels. So it’s only fitting that Moose hit the big home run to send the Kansas City Royals to a win in Game 1 of the ALDS.

After the incredible Wild Card Game, the Kansas City Royals were given little chance against the top-seeded Angels. However, the Royals took not one, not two but three separate leads in Game 1. Only the third one stuck.

A two-out double from Escobar scored Moustakas in the third inning, but Chris Iannetta homered in the bottom half of the inning to tie the score. In the fifth, Gordon scored on an Infante sacrifice fly. This time, David Freese answered immediately to tie the score.

However, the Royals took not one, not two but three separate leads in Game 1. Only the third one stuck.

However, Moustakas had the final word. Leading off the top of the 11th against Fernando Salas, Moose homered on a 1-1 pitch. He pulled the inside changeup for a towering home run that just made it over the high wall in right-center field.

Salas finished off the rest of the inning in short order. Holland did the same in the bottom half with a pair of strikeouts and—fittingly—a popout to Moustakas to end it.

While similar to Hosmer’s and Gordon’s late go-ahead home runs, Moustakas’ blast ranks this high for one simple reason: The other homers were followed by insurance runs. This was all Moose. It was also a sign of things to come, as he went on to crank five postseason home runs.

3. Alex Gordon’s “Triple” in Game 7

As you might have noticed, there haven’t been many highlights from the World Series. Part of that is due to several one-sided games—particularly compared to the rest of the postseason. The other part is that many of the Kansas City Royals’ key rallies were #KeepTheLineMoving incidents that don’t lend themselves to these kind of countdowns.

Here is one of the few moments that truly got all Kansas City Royals fans out of their seats. Things had been looking bleak for much of Game 7 with Madison Bumgarner shutting the offense down.

Even still, the Kansas City Royals entered the ninth inning down just 3-2. However, Bumgarner retired Hosmer and Butler quickly to put the Giants on the brink of the title. The Royals’ last hope stepped to the plate in the form of Gordon.

Unfortunately, it would be a year until the Royals lifer would hit a clutch game-tying home run in the ninth inning of a World Series game. He still came through this time with a hit to center field.

It should have been a simple single, but former Kansas City Royals outfielder Gregor Blanco made a mess of it. The ball skipped past him and made it all the way to the base of the left-center field wall. Left fielder Juan Perez chased the ball down and—despite bobbling it—got the ball back in to keep Gordon from attempting a Little League home run.

Of course, we all know how this ended. Perez fouls out, Pablo Sandoval collapses to the ground and the Giants celebrate at Kauffman Stadium. But as far as singular moments, Gordon’s race around the bases had fans collectively holding their breath. That’s worth a top-three spot.

2. Mike Moustakas Makes “The Catch”

As mentioned before, defense is admittedly a little underrepresented on this list. However, this moment was clearly the top defensive one of the postseason. It might not even be particularly close.

When considering the impact of a defensive play there are a few things to take into consideration. Firstly, one must consider the ramifications of the play not being made. In that regard, Moustakas’ catch doesn’t measure up to, frankly, any ball put in play. Sure, the hitter gets new life, but they aren’t automatically on base.

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This instance, though, was huge. With nobody out in a 1-1 game, Adam Jones and the heart of the Orioles lineup were coming up in the sixth inning against Jason Frasor. Thanks to Moustakas’ hustle—and the momentum that it gave the Royals—the game remained tied.

That is until the bottom half of the inning when Butler hit a sacrifice fly to score Jarrod Dyson. The run gave the Kansas City Royals a 2-1 lead, which they held on to the rest of the way.

The victory, in turn, gave the Royals a commanding 3-0 lead in the ALCS. We’ll never know what might have happened if Moustakas didn’t put his body on the line for a nearly impossible catch. Maybe Jones strikes out and nothing changes. Or maybe he singles, Cruz follows with a two-run homer and the Orioles get back in the series with a huge road win.

Regardless of the significance you assign to the play, the excitement it generated for the Kansas City Royals and their fans makes it a worthy runner-up.

1. 12th-Inning Wild Card Rally

Did you expect anything else? I guess maybe you thought it could have been just Perez’s hit down the line. But we felt that was unfair to Hosmer’s triple, Colon’s single and the rest of the magic that came from that 12th-inning rally.

Facing an 8-7 deficit, Cain grounded out to open the inning. Hosmer followed with a long drive to left-center field. He missed a home run by about a foot but reached third base as the Oakland outfielders collided on the play.

Christian Colon came on to pinch-hit. Colon’s chopper up the third-base line allowed him to reach first base and Hosmer to score. With the score tied, Gordon fouled out to first base.

Current Kansas City Royals pitcher Jason Hammel came out of the bullpen to try to send the game to a 13th inning. The first—and only—batter he saw was Perez. The Royals catcher stepped in having gone 0 for 5, so far, in the game.

With Perez at the plate, Colon became the seventh different Kansas City Royals player to steal a base in the game. The Athletics guessed right with a pitchout, but catcher Derek Norris dropped the ball.

Literally.

That proved crucial as Perez pulled a 2-2 offering down the third-base line past a helpless Josh Donaldson. Colon crossed the plate to set off a wild celebration.

Next: The Best Royals Outfielders of All-Time

It was only a sign of things to come, as the Kansas City Royals embarked on an incredible run to the World Series. Still, this is the moment that will forever be associated with the 2014 postseason, because without it, we wouldn’t even have been able to create this list.