The World Series Game 2 game thread: Mets @ Royals

For the baseball observer without a rooting interest, Game 1 of the World Series could hardly have gone any better. It was a close, back-and-forth game that went deep into extra innings, giving all of us more baseball before it slumbers for the winter. There was even the added bonus of briefly being rid of having to listen to Harold Reynolds and Joe Buck due to the assorted technical difficulties suffered by Fox during the broadcast.

For the observer with a rooting interest, well, that was a bummer, because the Mets almost had it, and then suddenly they didn't. Even as a certain member of the Orioles media took to Twitter during the game expressing confusion over why the announcers were emphasizing "swing and miss stuff", the Royals did what they do and showed the benefit of players putting the ball in play. A lot of good things can happen when the ball is put in play.

You might think a person who gets paid to talk about baseball would demonstrate either knowledge or the curiosity to learn something new, but apparently the people signing the checks don't have such standards, and thus you get, well, that.

As for tonight's game - the Mets, on paper at least, stand a nice chance of evening up the series. Johnny Cueto, the Royals starter, has not done well since being traded to Kansas City, and Jacob deGrom, on top of having glorious hair, has been a glorious pitcher this season. All of that can swap places for one night at any time, of course. Just ask the Cubs how having Jake Arrieta start for them went during the NLCS. And perhaps if Cueto's struggle is adjusting to the AL, the fact that he's now pitching against an NL team in the World Series could prove to be significant. Who knows?