World Series

The New York Mets were within two outs of winning Game 1 of the World Series on the road. Instead, an Alex Gordon ninth-inning home run highlighted a Kansas City Royals comeback victory, and they followed it with a blowout triumph in Game 2.

NEW YORK — One by one, these hitters who make up the relentless Kansas City Royals lineup are reducing this game to its smallest common denominator.

The Kansas City Royals have taken a commanding 2-0 lead in the World Series, but the New York Mets will get a chance to turn things around with three games in a row at home.

After sweeping the Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series, the Mets have seen their bats go cold and their young pitchers struggle through the first two games. Based on the way the Royals have played so far, this could lead to a sweep if things don't change in a hurry.

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.

NEW YORK — You don't bother asking Omar Minaya if the New York Mets are still his team, because you know they always have been. You don't need to ask if he feels good about the World Series coming back to Queens this weekend, because you know he does.

"No doubt about it," Minaya said this week. "For the neighborhood, it's great."

After holding serve on their home field, the Kansas City Royals will have a chance to win their first World Series in 30 years by winning two of the three games against the New York Mets at Citi Field starting on Friday. 

The World Series shifts back to New York Friday for Game 3, and the Mets have their backs against the wall after dropping each of the first two contests to the red-hot Kansas City Royals.

The New York Mets had the pitching advantage in the 2015 World Series, but that didn't matter to the Kansas City Royals, who took both games at home and jumped out to a 2-0 series lead. The series now shifts to Citi Field, where the Mets will look to get back into it and challenge for the title.

It is the baseball equivalent of losing American Gothic. Misplacing the master tape of Springsteen's Born to Run. Suddenly being unable to locate the Empire State Building or the Washington Monument.

Forty years after it was played, the clinching game of the 1975 World Series has become lost in the fog of time.

The New York Mets are officially in trouble.

It was the Johnny Cueto show in Game 2 of the World Series Wednesday, and the pitcher threw a complete game and allowed a single run and two hits on the way to the 7-1 victory. The Kansas City Royals now lead the Mets 2-0 in the Fall Classic and are two victories away from their first championship since 1985.