The Kansas City Royals will compete for a World Series championship for the first time since 1985, an unlikely scenario at various times during the regular season.
For example, third baseman Mike Moustakas, who leads the team in this post-season with four home runs, was farmed out to triple-A Omaha on May 22 because of poor performance (.152 batting average) and confidence issues.
Left-fielder Alex Gordon, who made an outstanding catch on a JJ Hardy liner in Wednesday's 2-1 American League Championship Series-clinching win over Baltimore, had one homer and a .317 on-base percentage through April.
In early July, there were reports of rising tension in the clubhouse between Royals management and designated hitter Billy Butler, a middle-of-the-order hitter who had been demoted to the seventh spot. Talk of trading the 28-year-old or simply releasing him soon followed.
But in the end, all three did their part to help Kansas City secure the American League's second and final wild-card berth on the final day of the regular season. And they, along with others, have stepped up their performance in the post-season, helping the Royals to a major league record eight consecutive victories to begin the playoffs.
The team's winning formula also includes solid starting pitching, outstanding fielding, speedy baserunning, timely hitting and lights-out relief pitching.
Below, we take a look at the players who have made a significant contribution in the playoffs and how their post-season output compares to their regular-season performance.
Hosmer has been scorching the ball in the post-season to the tune of a .448 batting average after hitting .270 in 131 games during the regular campaign. He has also shown some power with two home runs in eight games (nine in the regular season) and patience at the plate by drawing seven walks to eight strikeouts. Hosmer had a 35:93 walk-to-strikeout ratio in the regular season.
The 28-year-old is getting better as the playoffs move along, capturing MVP honours in the AL Championship Series sweep of Baltimore. Cain went 8-for-15 (.533) in the four-game series to raise his post-season mark to .353, a jump from his team-leading .301 in the regular season. Cain also has 15 total bases in eight contests after 194 in 133 games during the regular season.
The man many were writing off earlier in the season tops the Royals with four home runs in eight post-season games after hitting 15 long balls in 140 regular-season appearances. Moustakas will also carry a .241 average into the World Series, an increase of 29 percentage points from the regular campaign.
While Gordon's average is a fair bit lower (.222) than during the regular season (.266), he's driving in runners at a much higher rate with a club-leading nine runs batted in through eight games. He did lead the team in the regular season with 74 RBIs in 131 starts. Gordon has also shown to be a threat on the bases in the post-season with three steals to top the Royals after just 12 thefts in the regular season.
The former Los Angeles Angels left-hander limited Baltimore to one run on Wednesday over 5 1/3 innings, lowering his 2014 post-season earned-run average to 2.38. That compares to a 3.71 mark in 30 starts during the regular season. Vargas has drastically cut the number of hits allowed with just five through 11 1/3 post-season innings after giving up 197 over 187 frames in the regular campaign.
The ex-Toronto Blue Jays reliever has two wins in four playoff appearances in 2014 and has yet to surrender a run through three innings. In 23 games with the Royals after being acquired in a July 16 trade from Texas, Frasor sported a 1.53 earned-run average.
Kelvin Herrera, Wade Davis (pictured at right) and Greg Holland, Kansas City's go-to guys in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, respectively, have been an even better shut-down crew than during the 162-game regular season. Each has lowered his ERA, led by Davis at 0.96, down from 1.00 in a team-high 71 appearances in the regular season. Herrera is next at 1.08 (1.41 in regular season) followed by Holland, the closer, at 1.13 (1.44). Davis and Holland have pitched in each of the eight playoff games, one more than Herrera.
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