Kansas City Royals History: 1985 Team Wins First World Series Title

On this date in 1985, the Kansas City Royals ended their wait for a first World Series title with a Game 7 win over the Cardinals. It completed a comeback from trailing three games to one. Here’s how it happened.

(Editor’s note: This is one of several on-this-date posts that KoK will publish throughout the 2017 postseason. They will highlight the postseason success of the Kansas City Royals over the years with particular emphasis given to 2014 and 2015—given the strong ties to the current squad.)

Despite having been an MLB franchise for less than two decades, the Kansas City Royals had suffered plenty of postseason heartbreak entering the 1985 playoffs. The franchise nearly had it happen again when the Blue Jays built a 3-1 lead in the American League Championship Series, only to see the Royals come back to win Game 7 in Toronto.

Even with the momentum gained from the ALCS, the Kansas City Royals struggled early in the World Series against their cross-state opponent. St. Louis won the first two games on the road before Bret Saberhagen went the distance in Game 3. The Cardinals bounced back to take Game 4, putting the Royals in an identical 3-1 hole.

That’s when Kansas City staged another incredible comeback. Pitching hadn’t been a problem for the Royals. (The Cardinals never scored more than four runs in a single game.) Putting up enough runs to support the pitchers was a different story. Game 5 saw the Royals win 6-1 — the same score they had won by in Game 3. What followed was the series-defining Game 6 and the infamous Don Denkinger blown call at first base.

After that game, the Cardinals were almost certainly as dejected as a team could be heading into a winner-take-all game. Saberhagen and the Royals took advantage.

Jumping Out

After just two scoreless innings, during which Saberhagen allowed just one baserunner, the Kansas City Royals jumped out on St. Louis starter John Tudor. Following a one-out walk to Steve Balboni, Darryl Motley cranked a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole to give the home team the lead in the bottom of the second inning. It concluded an incredible plate appearance that included another blast down the left-field line that curled foul and a change of lumber.

Saberhagen followed with a 1-2-3 inning to keep the momentum going. That’s when the Royals took advantage of more control issues from the left-handed Tudor. Two walks and a single loaded the bases. Jim Sundberg, who scored the winning run in Game 6, walked to drive in one run before Balboni greeted reliever Billy Campbell with a clutch two-run single.

The Kansas City Royals held that 5-0 lead, while Saberhagen continued to mow down the Cardinals until a six-run fifth inning put the game completely out of reach.

Sundberg, Balboni and Motley hit consecutive singles to start the inning with Motley’s driving in Sundberg. After a pair of outs, Lonnie Smith hit a two-run double and Willie Wilson followed with an RBI-single. George Brett hit his fourth single of the night before Frank White drove in Kansas City’s 10th run. A wild pitch later in the inning allowed Brett to set the final margin at 11-0.

Closing it Out

With one hand on the World Series trophy, Saberhagen continued to pitch lights out. It wasn’t until the seventh inning that St. Louis even put multiple baserunners on in the same frame. Saberhagen, of course, escaped unscathed with two flyballs. He coaxed another couple of flyballs to end the ninth inning — with the final one ending up in Motley’s glove out in right field.

Here’s Denny Matthews on the call:

The out off the bat of Andy Van Slyke capped a sensational World Series for Saberhagen. The MVP of the series, the right-hander made two appearances that each resulted in a complete game. Saberhagen gave up just one run and 11 hits between the two performances, while striking out 10 and walking just one. It’s the kind of series that puts your season in the conversation for best pitching season in franchise history.

Saberhagen was good in Game 3, but he was phenomenal in Game 7. The eventual Cy Young award winner that year allowed just five hits in his complete-game shutout. He only struck out two after punching out eight in Game 3. But Saberhagen seemed content letting his defense do the work. It also helped that he didn’t have much pressure on him for most of the game.