Opinion

There was a time, about a year ago, when Jordan Zimmermann was to be the prince of this winter’s dynamite class of free-agent starting pitchers. 

NEW YORK — Not more than 20 minutes or so from Kauffman Stadium, barely a fungo from the heart of downtown Kansas City, Missouri, stands the American Jazz Museum. It is a monument to one of the great American art forms, a style of music characterized by improvisation and rhythm, much like the style of baseball played by the newly crowned World Series champions themselves.

Call it the Kansas City Shuffle.

They trailed in every game of the World Series. Heck, they trailed in the ninth inning of two of the four games they won (and in the eighth inning of another)!

The Kansas City Royals are amazing (sorry, New York Mets fans). They're also champions after Sunday night's 7-2, 12-inning win in Game 5.

When Game 5 of the 2015 World Series went to the ninth inning, FanGraphs gave the New York Mets almost a 95 percent chance of defeating the Kansas City Royals and cutting their 3-1 series lead to a 3-2 series lead.

Almost exactly 12 months ago, Salvador Perez stepped to the plate in Game 7 of the World Series. It was the bottom of the ninth, there were two outs, the Royals were trailing by one and the tying run stood on third base, 90 feet away.

The Kansas City Royals are one win away.

It was a classic Royals rally in the eighth inning. Thanks to hits from Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez and an error by Daniel Murphy, the Royals scored three times in the top of the eighth and took a 3-1 series lead with a 5-3 win over the New York Mets Saturday night in Game 4 of the World Series.

The Kansas City Royals always seem to have a flair for the dramatic.

That was no different Saturday night.

Trailing 3-2 in the top of the eighth, the Royals scored three runs to take a 5-3 lead. After closer Wade Davis allowed back-to-back hits with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Lucas Duda lined out into a game-ending double play. Kansas City won 5-3 and goes into Sunday with a chance to win the World Series.

The Kansas City Royals moved to within a win of their first title in 30 years with a spoiling and late 5-3 victory over the New York Mets in Game 4 on Saturday.

To examine the data, skim over the analytics and listen to the brains that have firmly entrenched themselves in every single major league front office, clutch does not exist.

It is not tangible. It is not readily quantifiable. Players do not perform better, over time, in certain situations. Other players do not fold, over time, in the same ones.

"Clutch" does not exist.

NEW YORK — The games change quickly, and the stories do, too. Baseball is a game meant to be judged over time, but the postseason gives us little, and the World Series gives us less.

One pitch. One home run. One little ground ball that rolls under a glove and into history.

"I wish I would have caught it," Daniel Murphy said late on Halloween night, when the trick was on him.