Playoff Baseball Returns to Kansas City

Playoff baseball returns to Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City tonight for the first time since the fall of 1985 when the Royals bested the St. Louis Cardinals in an exciting 7 game World Series.
That series will always be remembered for the Dan Denkinger missed call at first, in the top of the 9th of the 6th game with the Cards leading 1-0, that allowed Jorge Orta to reach first. Some people forget that Orta was thrown out on a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by the next batter. The Royals would go on to win the game 2-1. What people also forget is that the Cards started their ace, Joaquin Andujar, in game seven and got crushed 11-0.                                                                                      

Let's take a trip back in time to see what was going on in the US in 1985. Ronald Reagan was sworn in for his second term as President of the United States. Michael Dukakis was Governor of Massachusetts and Bill Clinton was in his third term as Governor of Arkansas.

The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in the 1985 Super Bowl. Mike Tyson made his professional boxing debut.

The eighth seeded Villanova Wildcats win the first ever 64 team NCAA Basketball Tournament with a 66-64 victory over the Georgetown Hoyas. In August, Rod Carew became the 16th MLB player to record 3,000 hits.

"We Are the World" was recorded by USA for Africa. A 21 year old Whitney Houston released her first album. (Notice I didn't write CD) VH-1 began broadcasting music videos in January of 1985. Route 66 was officially decommissioned as a US Highway. Ford Motor Company introduced the Ford Taurus in '85.

In June of 1985 the Royals drafted both Brian McRae, in the 1st round, and Deion Sanders, in the 6th round, of the MLB amateur draft. Only McRae would sign with the Royals. Brian's dad, Hal McRae was a member of the 1985 KC Royals.

Bud Black, current manager of the San Diego Padres, was on that '85 team and was 10-15 as a starter, with a 4.33 ERA, 122 Ks and 59 walks. John Wathan would play his last professional game on October 6th and come back to manage the Royals from 87-91, albeit with less success than the '85 team had. Dane Iorg drove in the winning run in that controversial 9th inning of game 6.

Current Fox Sports color commentater for the LA Angels, Mark Gubicza, was on that team but didn't get a World Series start because manager Dick Howser decided to go with a four man rotation that left Gubicza on the outside looking in.

You may remember some of the players from that team. How about George Brett, he of the pine tar bat incident in July of 1983 vs the Yankees, had 30 HRs/112 RBIs/.335 AVG. Willie Wilson 4/43/.278/43 SBs, Lonnie Smith 6/41/.257/41, Steve Balboni 36/88/.243 and DH Hal Mcrae 14/70/.259 were the backbone of the offense.

A 21 year old Bret Saberhagen anchored the pitching staff with a 20-6 record and a 2.87 ERA. Charlie Leibrandt was 17-9 to go along with a team leading 2.69 ERA. Danny Jackson, Bud Black and Mark Gubicza rounded out the starters and Dan Quisenberry saved 37 games with a 2.87 ERA for the team.

That was quite a year in KC. The 2014 Royals have their own team. Their own players. It's a new time, a new playoff system and a new baseball world. There is no dynasty to uphold, no long traditions to live up to. Their only concern today is playing a team, in the Oakland Athletics, that backed into a wild card berth on the last day of the season. If the Royals win this one game playoff, they must face arguably the best team in baseball, the LA Angels in LA. Win that series and it's off to play the Orioles or the Tigers in Baltimore or Detroit. Get through all of that and we could have a repeat of the Royals/Cardinals 1985 World Series with KC as the home team again!

Monday Night Football Mayhem

I watched a football game tonight that got me to thinking about dynasties and football. If there ever has been a dynasty in the current era of the National Football League, it would be the New England Patriots. The fans call this the Belichick era or the Brady era. You could always pencil in the Patriots for a playoff berth. And you could never count them out of a run for the Super Bowl.
Since Belichick arrived in New England in 2000, they have won all but two AFC East titles. They are third in Super Bowl appearances with 7. (The Steelers and the Cowboys have both appeared in 8)  From 2003 through 2012 they won 126 games, a league record for a decade. They have not had a losing season since 2000.
But tonight the Patriots looked very pedestrian while facing the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. Tom Brady looked ordinary, throwing for just 159 yards on a 14 for 23 night with 1 TD and 2 interceptions. He also fumbled twice, losing 1. His QB rating was 59.9. The rushing game faired no better gaining just 75 yards on the ground against a banged up Chiefs defense. Shane Vereen was the leading ground gainer for the Patriots with 26 yards on 8 carries.
The Chiefs, on the other hand, completely dominated the Patriots on both sides of the ball. Had there not been a missed tackle by Marcus Cooper on Brandon LaFell's 44 yard TD reception, this would have been the Patriot's worst defeat since losing to the San Diego Chargers 41-17 in 2005.
A masterful performance by Alex Smith, game manager extrodinare, had the Chiefs up 27-0 before the Pats could score. Smith was 20 of 26 for 248 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. He had a 144.4 QB rating on the night.
Kansas City rushed for 207 yards. Knile Davis had 107 yards rushing for the Chiefs and although he didn't score, he had a 48 yard scamper to set up a KC touchdown. Jamal Charles, back from an ankle sprain, rushed for 92 yards and a TD and caught 3 passes for 2 more scores.
Kansas City had 303 yards of offense in the FIRST HALF! The most yards allowed in a half by a Bill Belichick team...EVER!
With the loss tonight and an early season loss to the Dolphins, the Patriots are 2-2. Admittedly they are not out of the running yet but they seemed old and slow this evening and with games against the Cincinnati Bengals and the Buffalo Bills the next two weeks the schedule doesn't get any easier.

Read the ESPN story 

MLB Wild Card Teams To Meet

The 2014 Major League playoffs begin in Kansas City on Tuesday the 30th of September. The Oakland Athletics, a team that went 9-16 over their last 25 games, and didn't clinch a wild card berth until the last day of the season, will take on the Kansas City Royals, who haven't been to the playoffs since winning the World Series in 1985.

The Royals start their ace, James Shields. Shields was 14-8 on the year with a 3.21 ERA. Oakland counters with Jon Lester, 16-11 with a 2.46 ERA, a trade deadline pickup from the Boston Red Sox. The winner on Tuesday night will take on the LA Angels. All of the ESPN experts are picking the Athletics to advance. My prediction is Kansas City with the relief pitching of the Royals saving the victory for Shields.

Read the ESPN story

The San Francisco Giants will travel to Pittsburgh, PA to meet the Pirates in the one game National League Wild Card matchup. Madison Bumgarner, 18-10 and a 2.98 ERA is scheduled to start for the Giants against Edinson Volquez of the Pirates. Volquez was 13-7 on the year with a 3.04 ERA. The Giants finished 6 games behind the LA Dodgers in the NL West, while the Pirates had a chance to force a one game playoff with the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Central, but the Pirates lost and the Cardinals won, so the Pirates finished 2 games in back of the Cardinals. The winner of this game will take on the Washington Nationals. The experts are split over this game. My prediction is that the pitching of the Giants will overcome the streaky hitting of the Pirates

Read the ESPN story of the National League matchup.

Sporting News MLB Video Preview of Wild Card  Games