You Look Familiar
Mets, Royals stage earliest regular-season World Series rematch in history
When players on the Mets and Royals looked across the diamond last night, many of them may have felt a case of déjà vu. Nearly five months to the day after they staged the last game of the 2015 season, the reigning pennant winners were set to do battle again on Opening Night.
Fans of the losing team in the World Series will always want some measure of revenge against the victors. But after seeing their team fall in heartbreaking fashion in the 12th inning in Game 5 of last year’s World Series, Mets fans got an unprecedented early chance this season via ESPN’s broadcast. The Royals prevailed again, 4-3, Sunday night, but the Mets will get another chance when the teams complete their two-game series Tuesday.
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Fall Classic rematches have not been limited to the regular season. In April 1945, for instance, the crosstown rival Browns and Cardinals met up in the annual preseason City Series, with the Browns avenging their 1944 Series loss by winning four out of six. Ten years later, the Giants and Indians borrowed Wrigley Field to stage an exhibition rematch of the ’54 Fall Classic. A crowd of 24,434 watched New York defeat Cleveland 7-3 thanks to home runs from Dusty Rhodes and Willie Mays. The league champions have also staged rematches in the following year's World Series 10 times (but not since Dodgers-Yankees in 1977-78).
But this particular rematch – the first in history to be held on Opening Day – was a bit of good fortune for MLB schedule-makers. The 2016 schedule was released in early September last year, meaning a Mets-Royals tilt set for April 4, 2016 carried little significance before anyone knew the teams would meet in the Fall Classic. The game was then optioned to ESPN’s first Sunday Night Baseball telecast during the offseason to capitalize on this suddenly juicy matchup.
“It's kind of interesting how the schedule worked out,” Mets ace Matt Harvey said during the offseason. Harvey lost his Opening Night start for New York after allowing two runs to K.C. in the bottom of the ninth in Game 5 last fall. “Playing against (the Royals), it's going to bring back a lot of memories, but it's also going to bring back a lot of fire.”
So how rare was Opening Night’s World Series rematch? In the 19 years since Interleague Play began in 1997, World Series teams have faced off in the following season 11 times (including two Subway Series tilts between the Mets and Yankees in 2001) before the Mets and Royals met this year. Only one other rematch – the Tigers and Cardinals in 2007 – occurred before Memorial Day. Eight of them took place in June, with one apiece in the months of July and August.
Digging deeper into the box scores, it seems that losing World Series teams have utilized that extra motivation when given the opportunity. Previous Fall Classic losers have captured seven of those 11 series, going 19-14 in those games overall. The difference between the two leagues is smaller: The American League team won six of those 11 series, with a slight 18-15 advantage in the games.
Below is a complete breakdown of these in-season rematches:
Previous in-season World Series rematches
June 30 - July 2, 1997: Braves at Yankees
Atlanta picked up a 2-1 series win after dropping the 1996 Fall Classic 4-2 to the Yankees. Future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux was the story after his brilliant start in the rubber match at Yankee Stadium. Maddux, on his way to a second-place finish behind fellow Hall of Famer Pedro Martínez in the 1997 NL Cy Young Award race, twirled a three-hit, no walk shutout and faced just one batter more than the minimum in a dominant 2-0 victory over Dwight Gooden.
“He makes it look so easy,” Gooden said afterward. “You wish there was another league he could get called up to.”
June 2-4, 2000: Yankees at Braves
After defeating the Braves again in the 1999 World Series, this time via the sweep, New York earned a 2-1 series win at Turner Field. Pinch hitter Clay Bellinger’s solo shot in the seventh was the difference in the Yankees’ 7-6 win in the rubber match. Closer Mariano Rivera earned two saves.
June 15-17 and July 6-8, 2001: Mets vs. Yankees
The 2000 Subway Series had elevated this crosstown rivalry to a new level, and after dropping that Fall Classic in five games to the pinstripes, the Mets hoped the following year’s home-and-home series would provide a much-needed spark to their sub-.500 season. The Yankees edged out the Mets 2-1 in both series, however, en route to their fifth pennant in six years. The lone bright spots for the Shea faithful came via 2016 Hall of Fame electee Mike Piazza’s go-ahead homer on June 17 and three runs scored off Rivera in a 10-inning victory on July 7.
June 10-12, 2002: Diamondbacks at Yankees
After the Yankees finally showed they were fallible in October (and November) by losing to Arizona in the classic seven-game World Series in 2001, they gained back some comfort by beating Randy Johnson 7-5 on June 10. The future Hall of Fame lefthander, who went 3-0 against New York to win Series co-MVP honors the previous fall, was charged with five runs and took his second loss of the season. Yankees rookie Marcus Thames, facing Johnson for the first time in his career, lifted a first-pitch fastball for a two-run homer over the left field fence and the Bombers went on to a 2-1 series win.
June 6-8, 2005: Red Sox at Cardinals
The Red Sox vanquished 86 years of frustration with a cathartic sweep of the Cardinals in 2004, but St. Louis struck back in the next summer’s series. The Redbirds ambushed the visiting Red Sox with blowout scores of 7-1 and 9-2 to take the series, while 43-year old David Wells tossed eight scoreless innings to salvage the finale for Boston.
June 23-25, 2006: Astros at White Sox
Scott Podsednik, the White Sox outfielder who hadn’t hit a home run the entire season, became a South Side hero when he hit a walk-off shot off Astros closer Brad Lidge in Game 2 of the 2005 World Series. The following summer, the light-hitting Podsednik burned Houston again, hitting a grand slam off Andy Pettite to spur the White Sox to a 7-4 win on June 23. Chicago won the next game too – this time on a walk-off single by Alex Cintron – before the Astros salvaged the finale.
May 18-20, 2007: Cardinals at Tigers
Tigers pitchers committed a World Series-record five errors in 2006, and the team committed three more in the next season’s follow-up with St. Louis. But Detroit’s offense picked up the slack, scoring 28 runs for an emphatic sweep of the world champs. The Redbirds dropped to nine games under .500.
June 23-25, 2009: Phillies at Rays
After a rain-soaked Phillies triumph in the 2008 Fall Classic, the rematch was held in the climate-controlled confines of Tropicana Field. Philadelphia battered David Price in a 10-1 victory in Game 1, but Matt Garza and Andy Sonnanstine posted strong starts to a deliver a 2-1 series edge to Tampa Bay. The Phillies would go on to capture their second straight pennant.
June 15-17, 2010: Phillies at Yankees
Newly acquired Phillies ace Roy Halladay got roughed up by his former AL East rival Yankees 8-3 in Game 1, but Philadelphia avenged their 2009 World Series defeat in the next two games thanks to five RBI from leadoff man Shane Victorino. Forty-seven year old Jamie Moyer stymied the Bronx Bombers in Game 2, twirling eight innings and allowing just two runs.
Aug. 5-7, 2014: Cardinals at Red Sox
St. Louis got revenge once again in a tight three-game set at Fenway Park. Reliever Pat Neshek picked up a win and a save in the series for the Cardinals, setting the defending champion Red Sox 15 games back in the AL East standings.
Matt Kelly is the communications specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
