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The World Series has not gone the Mets’ way so far. They’re down 0-2 to the Royals, thanks to a close, extra-innings loss in Game 1 followed by a beatdown in Game 2 that featured seven Royals runs and a complete game effort by Johnny Cueto. The series has moved to New York now, though, so maybe their luck will change at home with Thor on the mound on Friday night.
Rookie Noah Syndergaard, who made his major league debut on May 12, has a whole lot of pressure on him in his first-ever World Series start. He’ll be taking on Yordano Ventura, who finished the 2015 regular season strong but has been just okay in the playoffs. The Mets need this win as much as any team can need a W in a non-elimination game: 11 teams have come back to win the World Series after being down 0-2, which are slim enough odds already, but coming back down from 0-3 is unprecedented territory.
Will the Royals win yet again and push the Mets to the brink in front of their home crowd? Or are the Mets in line to notch a win here and make this feel like more of a series -- one that will go at least five games? It’s all coin flip stuff at this point, but if the Mets don’t start hitting soon like they did against the Cubs, the guesswork is going to be taken out of this.
- Royals fans are caught between the impossible and the entirely possible: despite 30 years of losing, the Royals feel uncomfortably like an unstoppable winner.
- Alex Anthopoulos is officially leaving the Blue Jays when his contract runs out on Saturday. Reportedly, Anthopoulos declined a five-year extension even though it included an opt-out after year one in case he and new President Mark Shapiro didn't get along. If you missed all that, Thursday's Say Hey has you covered.
- Was Jacob deGrom tipping his pitches in a way Royals advance scouts picked up on? Or was he maybe just throwing flat pitches in the middle of the plate where professional baseball players could hit them with ease?
- Bob Nightengale reports that Dan Jennings and Jeffrey Loria were at odds once Jennings began to play Marcell Ozuna. This doesn't make immediate sense, as Ozuna's presence on the big league roster means his service time wasn't being manipulated, but it does check out from a "Loria is a rich, impulsive baby who wants to punish one of his players for existing" angle. So, who knows if it's true, but you know you can see it.
- The Gold Glove finalists have been announced, but you won't know who actually won them until Nov. 10.
- Maybe new Marlins manager Don Mattingly can help lure Zack Greinke to Miami. Assuming anything can lure anyone to Miami for baseball purposes, anyway.
- This story about Lamarr Hoyt and the 1980s War on Drugs sounds so strange today.
- Roddy Piper had a little something to say about the Mets being down 0-2. Well, the last time it happened, anyway, as Piper is, regrettably, no longer with us.
- Byung-Ho Park to the Red Sox rumors don't quite make sense, unless Boston's Hanley Ramirez to first base plan is a big old lie. Hey, wait a second ...
- The Royals are obviously enjoying having Ben Zobrist around, but the A's benefited from this move by way of Sean Manaea.
- The Padres hired a new manager, and you haven't heard of him unless you're a Diamondbacks fan.
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