MLB Playoffs

Noah Syndergaard wasn't even alive the last time that the New York Mets climbed out of a 2-0 hole in the World Series way back in 1986.

In Game 3 of the 2015 Fall Classic, the 23-year-old right-hander will be responsible for jump-starting a similar comeback as he takes the mound opposite of Yordano Ventura at Citi Field.

Winning baseball starts on the mound, and that's an understatement as far as the 2015 World Series goes with two stud pitchers lining up for Game 2 in Kauffman Stadium.

This 2015 World Series is going to be fun.

The opening night of it provided an obvious showcase of that, as Tuesday night's Game 1 went well into the morning in one of the longest games in World Series history. After five hours and nine minutes, over 14 innings, the Royals emerged on top to take the 1-0 series lead.

No New York Mets player will be more active during the 2015 World Series than Travis d'Arnaud. 

Game 1 of the World Series between the Kansas City Royals and New York Mets wound up being an instant classic, as it took five hours and 14 innings to find a winner.

The Royals, with their postseason magic on full display, managed to scrape out a 5-4 victory to keep home-field advantage.

You could look at it as the Mets coughing up a game in which they had several leads or the Royals being a gritty team that never dies, but it's probably a mixture of both. 

Playoff baseball often comes down to pitching, which means both teams in the World Series will hope for a big performance from their starters in Game 1.

This might not have been the World Series matchup everyone was expecting, but the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals should create an interesting series.

How will the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals fare against each other in the 2015 World Series? We're about to find out.

In the meantime, here's a thought experiment: What if these two franchises stepped into a flux capacitor-equipped DeLorean and traveled back in time to face themselves?

Specifically, what if the current Royals played a best-of-seven series against the 1985 Royals, the last K.C. club to win it all? And what if the '15 Mets squared off against the 1986 world champion Amazins?

With the way this postseason unfolded, you almost knew a long-suffering organization would end up on top at the culmination of the 2015 World Series.

That's guaranteed to be the case over the next several days, no matter who comes out on top between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals. A club that hasn't hoisted the Commissioner's Trophy in 29 years (New York) or 30 years (Kansas City) will do just that in early November to cap off a magical playoff run.

Each one of Daniel Murphy's home runs this October wasn't accompanied by a cartoon cash-register sound effect, though they all probably should have been.

Murphy slugged the New York Mets to the World Series, sure. But he's also bashing himself toward a hefty free-agent payday this winter.

How hefty will it be? And how hefty should it be? Let's parse those questions.