It’s fitting when you think about it. The New York Mets’ season comes down to their most polarizing player, the pitcher on their roster who has generated the most headlines, the guy we thought might never even make it this far.
Matt Harvey, the erstwhile innings-capped ace, starts Sunday in Game 5 of the World Series against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals lead the series 3-1, meaning they’re hoping to leave with a trophy on their flight home, while the Mets are looking for the first of the three consecutive wins they’d need to stage an unlikely comeback.
The ball, the game, the season — they’re all in Harvey’s hands now. He was decent in Game 1 of the series (6 innings, five hits and three runs allowed), but he needs to be better than decent this time out. The game starts at 8:07 p.m. ET and airs of Fox.
“Regarding the innings stuff,” Harvey said. “I think that's kind of all taken care of. And obviously completely thrown out of the window.”
For Harvey — who was once said to be limited to 180 innings this season but has thrown 208 to this point — he’s happy to be on regular rest. Meaning, he should be at full strength to face a Royals team that only swung and missed at six of his pitches in Game 1.
“I think they're a good team at making adjustments," Harvey said. "Throughout the game it seems from at-bat to at-bat they're able to adjust and kind of make different changes. It seems like early in their count they're taking a chance to kind of go big fly, and then later as the game goes on they adjust. So as the starting pitcher you've got to be able to adjust with them and kind of pick up on that.”
There’s no next time here, and Mets manager Terry Collins knows that.
“Matt has to give us one of those great outings he's capable of giving us. Again, we're in a tough situation, but we're not dead yet. And we've got our three guys that we've turned to. Seems like each and every time we've had a big series, those are the three guys that we run out there, and we've just got to keep getting all three of them.”
The Royals send Edinson Volquez to the mound, who rejoined the team Saturday after mourning the death of his father. Read more about Volquez’s return to the Royals and his outlook for the possible World Series-winning game.
DOWN 3-1, WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
Facing the 3-1 series deficit puts the Mets in a really tough place. Only five teams have come back from that in history and, coincidentally, the last one was the 1985 Royals against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Facing the 3-1 series deficit puts the Mets in a really tough place. Only five teams have come back from that in history and, coincidentally, the last one was the 1985 Royals against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The other teams: The 1925 Pirates, the 1958 Yankees, the 1968 Tigers and the 1979 Pirates.
NO CHANGES IN THE METS LINEUP
The Mets keep it the same for Game 5, including Michael Conforto in left field, who homered twice in Game 4.
The Mets keep it the same for Game 5, including Michael Conforto in left field, who homered twice in Game 4.
THE ROYALS DON’T SWITCH IT UP EITHER
Aside from not having DH Kendrys Morales in the lineup (hello, NL rules), the Royals keep their lineup the same too.
Aside from not having DH Kendrys Morales in the lineup (hello, NL rules), the Royals keep their lineup the same too.
NED YOST DOESN’T FEEL TOO MUCH URGENCYDespite being one win away from the World Series trophy, Royals manager Ned Yost isn’t pressing too much for his team to end the series in New York. He knows he has three more chances, two at home, and he likes those odds.
“When you win the first two games at home, going into it your goal coming in here is winning two games here,” Yost said. “But you know if you win one here, you've got two games at home, where we're really, really tough. It's going to be important, but it's not going to be the end of the world if we don't. But I think everybody's going to come to the park [Sunday] ready to go.”
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