The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Mets in the 2015 World Series to win their first championship since 1985. After losing game 7 of the 2014 World Series, the Royals were determined to finish the job in 2015. They dominated the playoffs, defeating the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays and New York Mets to win the World Series in 5 games. Over a million fans lined the streets of Kansas City to celebrate with a championship parade for the Royals.

1. November 6, 2015 Page 4
ROYALS WIN WORLD SERIE
A young Royals fan overlooks the large crowd gathered to celebrate the Royals’ victory at the intersection of Main Street and E Pershing Road.
PHOTOS/Max Mohr
Park studets stand in the middle of the street at a chance to see
the boys in blue.
The parade kicks off on Grand Boulevard, between the Sprint Center and the Power and Light District.
A sea of blue fills the downtown area for the entire length of the parade - 2.3 miles.

2. November 6, 2015 Page 5
ES, CELEBRATE WITH PARADE
You could hear a pin drop.
The crowd had packed shoulder-to-shoulder at Kansas
City’s Power and Light District to watch game seven of the
2014 World Series, and as most anticipated, to watch the
Royals take home the organization’s second championship
trophy.
With every strike, every out, the crowd erupted for nine
innings.
The city, still elated from making the first postseason
appearance in 29 years, wanted to win it all. A feat that didn’t
seem impossible.
As the club entered the postseason and took the field on
the last night of September 2014, the city was alive with
baseball fever.
Fountains ran royal blue, flags waved from windowsills,
stores filled with postseason merchandise, and the atmosphere
in the city was electric.
The 2014 Wild Card game lasted four hours, 45 minutes,
and 12 innings.
Down 7-3 at the end of the 6th
and through the 7th
inning,
the Royals rallied in the bottom of the 8th
, drove in three and
tied the game 7-7 in the ninth.
Salvador Perez hooked a slider down the third base line and
past the glove of Oakland’s third baseman, Josh Donaldson,
to knock in the winning run in the bottom of the 12th
, securing
the Royals a spot in the first ALDS series in 29 years.
After a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels and
a four-game sweep of the Baltimore Orioles, the Royals
seemed unbeatable.
However, the season ended painfully.
The Royals trailed 3-2 for the last 5 ½ innings of game
seven. With two-out in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Gordon
sent a drive to center field and watched it drop in front of
the Giant’s centerfielder Gregor Blanco. The ball skipped to
the wall before being tossed to shortstop Brandon Crawford.
Putting his head down, Gordon ran around the bags.
Royals third base coach Mike Jirschele held Gordon at
third, a decision that would be argued for the entire offseason
and still today. Third baseman Pablo Sandoval caught
Salvador Perez’s foul out to record the final out, leaving
Gordon 90-feet away from extra innings.
The city stood in shock as the last out was made. The
crowd speechless. A few seconds of complete silence gave
way to eruptions of anger, frustration, and tears.
In a radio interview, Royals manager Ned Yost said the
hurt and pain didn’t really go away until the start of Spring
Training.
“There is no way they can lose,” was a common mantra
among fans. But the 3-2 score was undeniable. Kansas City
went to sleep that night, hoping it was all a bad dream.
This year, however, the Royals have proved last year’s
successwasnotafluke.Withafranchiserecordforattendance,
seven All-Stars voted into the Midsummer Classic, and the
first American League Central title in franchise history, they
finished the season at .586.
The club had one goal this year: to win it all and wash out
the bitterness of last year’s heartbreaking loss.
Their run almost ended in game four of the American
League Division Series against the Houston Astros, a game
eerily comparable to the 2014 Wild Card victory. Down four
runs in the eighth inning, the Royals’ bats found life and
drove in five runs. Scoring two more in the ninth, the Royals
took game four 9-6 and the series 3-2.
Next, the club defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in the
American League Championship Series, 4-2, and headed to
the World Series for the second consecutive year.
Park University capitalized on the Royal fever around
campus and set up “watch parties” for students, faculty and
staff to enjoy the playoffs. Tuesday, Hannah Kloster, special
events coordinator and Alisha Blackwelder, manager with
special events, set up a watch party in the McCoy Meetin’
House for anyone who wanted to watch.
“We didn’t plan this, it just happened,” said Blackwelder.
“We wanted to watch the game and realized we could watch
it in the Meetin’ House, so we decided to invite everyone! I
mean, why not?”
“We were cleaning out the office and found blue table
cloths, and we had the popcorn machine in the office, so we
just brought it all here and set up,” said Kloster.
Chairs and standing room quickly filled up as students,
faculty and staff watched the Royals take a 14-2 win over the
Blue Jays.
The club prepared to face-off with the New York Mets in
the Fall Classic.
After taking games one, two and four, the Royals entered
game five just nine innings away from world champions.
Silent for nine innings, and trailing by two, the Royals
came to life. After a walk by centerfielder Lorenzo Cain, first
baseman Eric Hosmer ripped an RBI double to slice the Met’s
lead in half. Advancing to third on a perfectly placed ground
ball to the right side by third baseman Mike Moustakas,
Hosmer sprinted home on a grounder by Salvador Perez,
fully aware of the mediocre sidearm throw of the Mets’ first
baseman.
Hosmer slid safely home to tie the game, and leave the rest
to a battle of the bullpens.
In the top of the 12th
, Perez singled, and was replaced
by Jarrod Dyson, who capitalized on his speed by stealing
second. Christian Colon made his first postseason appearance
and hit a go-ahead single into left field, driving in Dyson and
giving Kansas City the first lead of the game.
Then, the Royals rallied.
Scoring four more runs, the Royals turned it over to closer
Wade Davis, who placed a 95-mph fastball into the glove of
catcher Drew Butera to record the final out.
The air above the field filled with player’s gloves, hats,
jerseys and roaring elation.
At 12:37 (ET) Monday morning, the Kansas City Royals
became 2015 World Series Champions. The ache of last
season was gone.
An incredible, awesome, amazing
Royals World Series victoryElizabeth Orosco
Features Editor
PHOTO/Elizabeth Orosco
After a
decade of
hanging out-
side professor
John Lofflin’s
office, we can
now take ful
advantage of
the third for-
bidden words:
awesome,
incredible and
amazing.
PHOTOS/Courtney Fairhurst
A truck carrying a large replica of the World Series trophy passes by.Fans scaled trees, vehicles, bus stop awnings and buildings all to get a glimpse of the parade.
Budweiser’s Clydesdale Horses makes an appearance on Grand Boulevard.