How World Series is Different Without Kansas City Royals

The 2017 World Series has been amazing. But it’s hard not to notice how different the games are compared to the ones the Kansas City Royals played in 2015.

It’s been two years since the Kansas City Royals were in the World Series. But watching the 2017 Fall Classic, one would be forgiven for thinking it’s been a lot longer. The way the Houston Astros and Los Angles Dodgers play the game of baseball is just so incredibly different from how the Royals played in 2014 and 2015.

This year’s representatives from the American and National leagues act like they’ve never heard the phrase “Keep the Line Moving.” It’s part of the new three true outcomes baseball world we live in. Batters sacrifice high strikeout rates in the name of home runs and walks that get their opponent’s pitch count up.

I’m not going to sit here and tell you the two recent World Series that Kansas City participated in are better than this one. It would be a flat-out lie. Even if the series ends in six games, which would happen with a Houston win Tuesday night, it’s in the conversation for best World Series of the 21st Century.

For my money, the best of the bunch include: 2001 (Diamondbacks over Yankees in seven), 2002 (Angels over Giants in seven) and 2011 (Cardinals over Rangers in seven). Obviously, going the distance matters. But this year’s World Series has had it all through the first five games. They are just very different games than we saw a couple of years ago. Here’s how they differ.