The Tenured Guys



David Wright and Alex Gordon have played their entire careers with, respectively, the Mets and Royals. They've seen their teams through good times and bad, so the matchup in the 2015 World Series might mean more to each in a personal way. Both missed significant time this year -- Wright with hamstring and back issues, Gordon with an injured groin. So just regaining good health was an achievement.
Did you realize this is the first time two expansion clubs (Mets in '62, KC in 1969) have ever been paired in Baseball's Fall Classic? It's also the first time since 2000 that two teams whose primary colors are blue and white (though the Mets wore a lot of black in those days) are playing for the ultimate prize?
Great matchup here: the Mets with their outstanding starting pitching and lockdown closer against a smart-hitting Royals team that avoids mistakes -- and has the experience of coming within one run (and Madison Bumgarner's unworldly pitching) of winning it all a year ago.
Who will be this year's Bumgarner or Ray Knight? Will Daniel Murphy continue to play like Joe Morgan or Tony Lazzeri? Or will someone totally unexpected step out of the shadows the way Gene Tenace and Scott Brosius once did?
OK, time for a prediction, right? I see a very close series... going six games with the Mets coming out on top. And in a game increasingly dominated by strong bullpens, let me circle Jeurys Familia as a possible Series MVP.

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