Kansas City Royals: Revisiting the 2015 ALCS Game 5

With a Game 4 win, the Kansas City Royals have put themselves one win away from an American League Pennant and a second chance to the take the World Series.

In Game 4 of the 2015 ALCS, the Kansas City Royals knew they had to get a quick lead on the Blue Jays and shut down their bats quickly. The Royals did just that with a four-run first inning that ultimately let to a 14-2 win over Toronto.

Now that the Royals had a third ALCS win under their belt, they could see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Royals only needed to secure one more win to win the Pennant for the second year in a row. The only thing standing in their way was a Blue Jays team refusing to go down without a fight.

In Game 5 for the Blue Jays, Marco Estrada got the start. Estrada had put together a good year in Toronto, striking out 131 over 181 innings and finishing the regular season with a record of 13-8 with an ERA of 3.13. For the Royals, Edinson Volquez would take the mound. Volquez had been a solid pitcher for the Royals in 2019 striking out 155 over 200 innings and finishing the season with a 13-9 record and an ERA of 3.55.

To continue pushing forward in the postseason, the Royals knew they needed a strong start from Volquez and another great night and the plate from their lineup. On October 21, 2015, in front of 49,325 fans packed into the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Game 5 of the ALCS got started.