I Have Waited My Whole Life for This

[Mama Hip Rockets]

People who don't like sports don't get it. When big games light up social media news feeds, the hipsters retaliate with, “Go, sports! Way to keep sportsing!” and similar pretentious comments, and they think they're just hilarious. As if the only things allowed on social media are pictures of your coffee and your cat and your beer. But you know what, hipster? I have been waiting my entire life for this moment. The moment I could say the Kansas City Royals are World Champions.

My parents have video of me as a toddler looking through annual Who's Who in Baseball books, identifying dozens of players by name simply by seeing their photographs. The Kansas City Royals won the World Series when I was three years old. I loved baseball as far back as I can remember, so I probably watched some of that series. Or maybe it was past my bedtime. I don't know. Either way, it doesn't really count in the category of watching my team win a championship. Then, for the vast majority, the depressingly vast majority of the next three decades, it was embarrassing to be a Royals fan. Combine that with the fact that the Chiefs haven't won a Super Bowl since before I was born or a playoff game in over twenty years, and you really begin to understand how hungry Kansas City was for any kind of success.

In 2014 the Royals clinched their first playoff spot in 29 years just three days before the end of the season. However, due to baseball's new playoff format, that only allowed them into the wild card game, which is basically a one-game play-in for the actual playoffs. I drove the 160-mile trip up to Kansas City for that wild card game with a couple of friends. We were excited, of course, but I couldn't help but think about how depressing the ride home would be if they lost. To wait all this time, virtually my entire life, for the playoffs, and to have that joy and hope snatched away in just a few hours. They were going up against Oakland Athletics pitcher Jon Lester, a tremendous pitcher whom the Royals had struggled mightily against throughout his career, including falling victim to a no-hitter.

As I watched the A's move out to a 7-3 lead alongside 38,000 other Royals fans, I sat there with a blank look on my face which did not change for several innings. All I could think about was how many times I had been let down by Kansas City sports over the years. I had finally had a brief glimmer of hope, only to have it crushed once again right before my eyes.

The Royals had a miraculous comeback (well, miraculous at that time, at least. It's pretty standard for them now). They were losing by four runs in the eighth inning, and stormed back to tie it in the ninth. They lost the lead again in the 12th inning, and came back with two more runs in the bottom of the 12th to win it. It was universally heralded as one of the greatest games in baseball history, and I had the privilege of witnessing it in person. I hugged and high-fived random strangers, because that's what you do when you've been waiting your whole life for something to happen, and then you watch your team pull off one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the sport.

You all know the story by now. The Royals rode the momentum of that thrilling comeback to completely shock the entire sports world by sweeping the Angels and Orioles, going on one of the greatest postseason winning streaks in baseball history. Royals fans worldwide developed ulcers and constantly worried about imminent heart attacks as the Royals involved themselves in a remarkably dramatic stretch of games. It seemed like every night featured comeback wins, extra-inning wins, and nail-bitingly close games that got the whole country rooting for them. I had countless friends, some who were fans of other teams and some who didn't even particularly like baseball, tell me they were rooting for my boys. Everybody loves the underdog story.

They went toe to toe with the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, coming down to yet another nail-biting finish in the bottom of the ninth, and coming up one run short. They lost game seven 3-2, with the tying run standing only ninety feet away. Joe Buck consummated his verbal love affair with Madison Bumgarner on the air, as both parties instantly became the newest members of Kansas City sports villain hall of fame, right up there with the late-70s Yankees teams, Ben Davidson, Bill Romanowski, and John Elway. I was devastated by the loss, but at the same time, incredibly proud of what the Royals accomplished. They came out of nowhere to get to the World Series and almost won it. It was an amazing October, by far the most thrilling experience I had ever had as a sports fan. I proudly wore my American League Champions shirt throughout the next year.

But still, I felt like they had unfinished business to take care of in 2015. Royals fans got close enough to taste a world championship last year, and I felt like anything less in 2015 would be a disappointment. I was one of the few people who predicted a return trip to the World Series for Kansas City. Most people, fans and baseball “experts” alike, wrote them off as a fluke, a feel-good story of a team who got hot for a couple of weeks but ultimately wasn't that good. Most baseball writers predicted they would finish around .500 in 2015. Some said even lower. Few predicted they would get back to the playoffs, let alone the World Series. A Kansas City Star writer noted that zero out of 149 preseason predictions he read featured the Kansas City Royals returning to the World Series.

They came out and won 10-1 on Opening Day. In a 162-game season, it's easy to overreact to one game, but it was clear this team had a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. It was a whole different story this year. They were no longer the underdogs that everybody loved. They were a team with a target on their back. Other teams tried to get in their heads, picked fights with them, and spawned the “Straight Outta Kauffman” movement. People called them thugs when they retaliated, and it was always their fault, regardless of who started it.

The negative attention didn't phase them. They won their first seven games of the season and spent basically the entire year in first place, other than a handful of days that they fell one or two games behind the Twins for some reason. They had eight players in the All-Star Game, something that most fans complained about, but in reality was probably about right based on how much talent they had. It was clear to anyone watching that this was the best team the Royals had since 1985, and probably their best team ever. Their offense was the best they had in years, their defense was phenomenal, their starting pitching was good, their bullpen was scary, and they continued to have a knack for winning in dramatic fashion with comeback wins and close games. They won their first division championship since 1985, cruising to an easy clinch by mid-September.

Then came the playoffs. They played this year's wild card winner, the Houston Astros, in the first round. The Astros, despite having absolutely no resemblance to the 2014 Royals, were called “this year's Royals” by an alarming number of fans and media, even though the only thing they had in common was that they used to suck, and now they were good. The Astros came out and won game one. It was clear that the Royals were in a dogfight this time. There would be no sweeps or magical streaks like the 2014 postseason.

There would, however, be comebacks. The Royals battled back from an early 4-1 deficit in game two and won the game 5-4, evening the series. The Astros took game three in Houston, and the Royals suddenly had their backs up against the wall.

You know the Royals, though. They seem to love having their backs up against the wall. They love it so much, in fact, that they found themselves in that position yet again in game four. Yordano Ventura and Ryan Madson tossed more meatballs than a kid on a rollercoaster after a spaghetti dinner, and the Astros blasted their way to a 6-2 lead through the first seven innings. The statistical probability of a comeback was around 1-2%, if memory serves. They were going up against Will Harris, a great relief pitcher who had 1.90 ERA on the year. Royals fans turned off their TVs. Everyone said it was over. Thanks for the memories, thanks for a great year, but it's over. The governor of Texas congratulated the Astros on winning the series on Twitter. Jason La Canfora, an NFL reporter/Baltimore Orioles fan who still can't get the salt out of his wounds from the Royals sweeping his team out of the ALCS last year, sarcastically boasted that, “The post-season won't be the same without the Royals. Hard to imagine how MLB survived for those 30 yrs they didn't make it. I'm all torn up.”

Meanwhile, on the field, the only people on Earth who didn't think the season was over happened to be the Kansas City Royals baseball team. They pounded single after single after single and scored five runs in the top of the eighth. They added two more in the ninth on an Eric Hosmer moonshot and won the game 9-6. It was only the second time in Major League history that a team had won a postseason game after trailing by four runs in the eighth inning or later. The first time, of course, was last year's wild card game.

And so continued the legacy of the Royals. They continued to add on to their reputation as a never-say-die team. For the rest of the postseason, it seemed like there was a new stat every night about some sort of baseball history they were making. They fell behind 2-0 in game five against Houston, but of course they came back and won. Johnny Cueto made up for two months of failure as he retired the last 19 batters he faced. Kendrys Morales hit a monster 3-run dinger to put the icing on the cake of a 7-2 victory.

Next up was Toronto, a hard-hitting team who, despite having a worse record than the Royals, was favored by nearly every “expert” and analyst to go to the World Series. The Royals completely dominated with a 5-0 victory in game one. After David Price retired 18 straight batters in game two, the Royals remembered that they were supposed to be dramatic, and clawed back with their “keep the line moving” motto once again, ultimately winning the game 6 to 3. Their reputation as the Comeback Kings was strengthened once again.

After losing two out of three in Toronto, the series came back to Kansas City for game six. This time, the Royals were on the other side of a late-inning comeback, as Jose Bautista hit a 2-run bomb in the top of the eighth to tie the game at three. Fans became restless and railed on Ned Yost for not bringing Wade Davis in to close out the series with a two-inning save. Ned's defense was that he was trying to beat Mother Nature, waiting out a predicted 10 PM rain delay to preserve Davis' arm. He ended up being forced to bring Davis in anyway, and the rain delay came right on schedule. Now fans wondered if Davis would be able to come back for the ninth.

The Blue Jays brought their closer in for the eighth, and the Royals quickly welcomed him to the late- postseason Kansas City magic that so many other teams have fallen victim to in the past two years. Lorenzo Cain walked, and Eric Hosmer, the clutchest of the clutch, a world class postseason RBI machine, ripped one into the right field corner. Cain made a mad dash and somehow scored even though Hosmer was held at first with a single. Fans, announcers, and players looked on in disbelief. Royals baseball continued to defy all logic.

Wade Davis, in the interest of increasing the drama, came back for the ninth inning and allowed runners to reach second and third with no outs. The announcers used words like “fatigue” and “decreased velocity” and “rain delay” and “hour-long break” and speculated that Davis simply didn't have it tonight because of the layover from the rain delay. In spectacular fashion, he proceeded to strike out the next two batters, leading to a showdown with MVP candidate Josh Donaldson. Power vs. power. Arguably the game's best hitter vs. the game's (not arguably) most dominant closer. Donaldson grounded to third and for the second year in a row watched the Kansas City Royals celebrate on the field as his season ended. After the game, Royals blogger Rany Jazayerli would write, “Ayers Rock is the third-biggest rock in the world. The two biggest rocks in the world hang directly underneath Wade Davis.”

The Royals found themselves back in the World Series for the second year in a row. Despite all the years of futility, they now had the surprising distinction of becoming only the third American League team to win four AL pennants in the last forty years (New York and Boston are the only teams with more). As usual, the media by and large focused on the greatness of their opponent. The New York Mets had an intimidating, dominant pitching staff. They had just swept the mighty Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series. Daniel Murphy, their second basemen who typically possessed extraordinarily average power, had suddenly turned into the second coming of Babe Ruth.

But then, Royals.

The Mets and Royals found themselves in an epic, evenly matched battle for fourteen innings. The drama started when the Mets' highly touted closer, Jeurys Familia, blew a save when Alex Gordon sent a spectacular blast to straightaway center to tie the game in the ninth. The two bullpens dominated the next few innings. In the bottom of the fourteenth, the Royals rallied to end the second longest game in World Series history.

Kansas City dominated game two, rallying to beat young phenom Jacob deGrom, one of the best pitchers in baseball. Johnny Cueto, the most bipolar pitcher I have ever seen, followed up the worst outing in postseason history with a dominant 2-hit complete game, and the Royals won 7-1. They went into Queens with a commanding 2-0 series lead.

The Mets came out swinging in game three, winning 9-3 and making a series out of it. It appeared, once again, that the Royals simply weren't as good on the road as they were at home in the postseason. In game four, the Mets took a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning. Daniel Murphy Bucknered a ball, Mike Moustakas put the Royals on top with a single, and Salvador Perez added some insurance. The Royals set a Major League record by recording their sixth comeback of the postseason in which they trailed by two or more runs, winning the game 5-3. They were one win away from glory.

In game five, Matt Harvey completely dominated for eight innings. Unfortunately for New York, though, baseball is nine innings. (Well, in the case of the Royals, it's frequently more than nine innings, but you know what I mean.) The fans chanted Harvey's name and he demanded to come out for the ninth inning after his manager and pitching coach made the decision to bring in Jeurys Familia. Mets manager Terry Collins gave in to Harvey's demands, and the crowd went wild as Harvey sprinted out to the mound to finish what he started.

But, like most players and teams who set out to finish what they started against the Kansas City Royals, he simply didn't. Lorenzo Cain drew another fantastic rally-starting walk. Captain Clutch, Eric Hosmer, drove him in with a double. Harvey, who was moments away from a legendary performance to extend the World Series, had to be yanked from the game. Collins turned to Familia, who had already blown to saves in the World Series. No pitcher in the century-plus history of the Series had ever blown three.

With one out, Salvador Perez came up to the plate. If he could only hit the ball to the outfield to drive in Hosmer, Royals fans held out hope that their team could take it from there. Instead, he hit the ball softly to third base. David Wright looked Hosmer back to third and fired to first for the second out. Only Hosmer didn't go back to third. Instead, he inexplicably ran home. A decent throw would have ended the game and sent the series back to Kansas City for game six. Instead, Lucas Duda made the worst throw on the diamond of Citi Field since 50 Cent threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and Hosmer slid in head-first with the game-tying run. The Royals, the kings of comeback, had done it again. Familia blew his record-setting third save of the series.

The Royals bullpen proceeded to out-bullpen the Mets. Kelvin Herrera and Luke Hochevar continued their phenomenal postseasons by completely shutting down the New York bats once again. The game extended to the twelfth inning, and Perez led off with a single. Jarrod Dyson pinch ran and stole second base easily. That's what speed do. Gordon moved him over to third with a groundout to the right side.

Once again, Royals fans were in “just hit a fly ball” mode as backup infielder Christian Colon came up as a pinch hitter for his first at-bat in nearly a month, and his first plate appearance of the postseason. Colon watched strike one go by, and then swung and missed badly at strike two. Kansas City fans everywhere muttered obscenities under their breath about backup infielders and National League rules.

Then Colon drilled a line drive single to left. That was enough to win the World Series. But just for fun, the Royals continued to hammer away. Daniel Murphy Bucknered another one, Alcides Escobar ripped an RBI double down the line, Ben Zobrist was intentionally walked. Lorenzo Cain came up with the bases loaded, and delivered the killshot with a 3-run double to left center. The Royals led 7 to 2. Wade Davis came in and for once, the Royals closed out a big game in non-nail-biting fashion, easily holding the five-run lead and bringing Kansas City its first world championship in three decades.

Baseball was my first love. I never got into G.I. Joe, superheroes, Transformers, He-Man, Ninja Turtles, or whatever else most boys enjoyed in the 80s and 90s. Instead, I memorized player faces, names, and stats. I spent every cent I ever earned as a child on baseball cards. I played Strat-O-Matic baseball. The day my parents bought me my first pair of cleats was one of the greatest moments of my childhood. They were ten-dollar cleats from the mall shoe store, but I thought they had basically given me the greatest gift on the face of the earth. I played baseball in the back yard incessantly, dreaming that I was George Brett or Willie Wilson or Dan Quisenberry or Bret Saberhagen or Bo Jackson or Danny Tartabull.

Think about it. Is there anything at all that you still love that you loved when you were three years old? Anything? Outside of maybe parents, pizza and ice cream, most adults would say no. But even further, is there anything you have waited three decades for? We get angry waiting in traffic for thirty seconds. I WAITED THIRTY YEARS FOR THIS.

This is the beauty of baseball. It makes years of heartbreak melt away when the pinnacle is finally reached. It transcends age boundaries. It brings generations of families together. I let my six- and seven-year-old boys stay up until midnight watching the Royals win the World Series last night, because you never know if this is a once in a generation or once in a lifetime opportunity. Enjoy it, Royals fans. You deserve it.

[scho63]

Is this the condensed version of "War and Peace"?

[Toby Waller]

The Royals won in 85'. Your whole life must not be that long.

[Toby Waller]

Well,I guess you need to enjoy it because it won't happen again for another 30 or so years

[ekf028]

Clap

[Eleazar]

Originally Posted by scho63

Is this the condensed version of "War and Peace"?

I read the unabridged version and it was still shorter than this!

[Toby Waller]

You are a fraud.You didn't even put an exclamation point at the end of all that!

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Cliff Notes:

Royals won the World Series .I'm happy !

[Beef Supreme]

"I have waited my whole life for this."

And apparently have been writing a novel in the meantime - just in case.

[gblowfish]

I appreciate his passion. 30 years is a long time to wait. Feels good, don't it???

[Lonewolf Ed]

Originally Posted by frankpitts

The Royals won in 85'. Your whole life must not be that long.

You know math, don't you? That is terrific!

[ROYC75]

I enjoyed it!

[teedubya]

Do you have a TL;DR rap version?

As a Jayhawks fan, this win was MUCH sweeter, as KC is totally united in the fandom. This was great.

[petegz28]

[Toby Waller]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf Ed

You know math, don't you? That is terrific!

no,I don't. Thats like words but with numbers instead,right?