Morning Rewind, 10/21: Mets and Royals on the brink of a World Series showdown

By JOHN DORN

By the end of Wednesday, it's likely that we'll be gearing up for a World Series bout between the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals. Just like everyone predicted in April.

Tuesday night's action all but assured the matchup, with Kansas City pummeling Toronto into oblivion at their home ballpark.

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Seeking to extend his storybook career a bit further, R.A. Dickey took the mound for Toronto -- but didn't five the Jays a chance from the very start. The knuckleballer was out of the game by the second inning, having allowed five runs on four hits. Nine runs later, Toronto had turned to position player Cliff Pennington to take the mound and mop of the mess created by the entire staff.

Ben Zobrist and Alex Rios homered, leadoff man Alcides Escobar drove in four runs, and the Kansas City Royals now lead the Blue Jays three games to one in the series -- setting up a potential American League clinching game Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.

Royals 14, Blue Jays 2


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In the battle between fairytale seasons, it appears that the Mets' saga is the one that will continue into early November.

In the first NLCS game at Wrigley Field since Game 7 of the 2003 series against the Florida Marlins, the Cubs just didn't have enough firepower to top Jacob deGrom and Daniel Murphy and cut the series deficit to a single game.

deGrom struggled a bit early in the game, allowing a solo shot to Kyle Schwarber and tossing 30 pitches in a rocky first inning, but eventually weathered the storm to go for seven innings, four hits and just two runs on 100 pitches. Once Tyler Clippard and Jeurys Familia got the call from the pen, the night was effectively over. The pair of back-end relievers allowed just one base runner over the final two innings, closing down the victory and sending the Chicago crowd home disappointed.

Daniel Murphy continued his monstrous postseason with yet another home run -- his fifth straight game with a homer and his sixth of the playoffs, bringing his postseason batting average up to .364. David Wright and Yoenis Cespedes both had three hits, while Lucas Duda, Travis d'Arnaud and Wilmer Flores each had one.

And with one more win, the Mets -- who were a game under .500 on June 25 -- will clinch their first National League title since 2000.

Mets 5, Cubs 2

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