As the Royals head toward their ninth playoff appearance, we take a look back at the best moments in Royals postseason history.

The Kansas City Royals have a storied history as one of the best expansion franchises in baseball. They’ve seen legends like George Brett and Frank White and stars like Alex Gordon and Lorenzo Cain shine in October. Here is a look back at the 10 greatest moments in Royals postseason history.

#10 – 1980 World Series – Game 3: Willie Aikens Walks-off in 1st ever World Series game in Kansas City.

1980 was a magical season for the Royals and their fans. They dominated the Western Division and swept their postseason demon in the New York Yankees in the ALCS. The Royals were favored over the Philadelphia Phillies in the franchise’s first World Series. However, after failing to protect leads in the first two games in Philadelphia, the series shifted to Kansas City with the Royals down two games to none. The game was the first World Series game played in Royals Stadium.

The game was a back-and-forth affair, with the Royals scoring in the first, fourth, and seventh innings. However, the Phillies would answer with runs in the top half of the next inning. Finally, in the bottom of the tenth, the Royals had the game-winning run on second in the speedy Willie Wilson. After an intentional walk to the American League’s Most Valuable Player, George Brett, Willie Aikens stepped in to face the left-handed Tug McGraw with two on and two out. With the count two balls and one strike, Aikens hit the left-center gap and Wilson came around to score as the Royals took Game 3, 4-3. This would be the Royals first World Series win in franchise history.

#9 – 2014 American League Championship Series – Game 3: The Moose is Loose as the Royals take a 3-0 series lead over Baltimore.

The Royals came back home after taking the first two games of the 2014 ALCS in Baltimore and have won their first six games of the 2014 postseason. Game 3 was delayed a day because of rain then the on a crisp October night, Mike Moustakas made a play that would give the Royals the momentum they needed to take a three to nothing lead. In the top of the sixth with the score tied at one, Jason Frasor faced off against Baltimore’s Adam Jones.

On a one strike pitch, Jones popped up a foul ball that appeared to be heading out of play toward the third base dugout suite. Moustakas raced over to the rail and, with the wind catching the ball and pushing it back toward the field, he put a leg on the rail and caught the ball while falling into the dugout suite. The fans in the suite never let him hit the ground. The Royals would go on to win Game 3, 2-1 on their way to sweeping the series and winning their third pennant.

#8 – 2014 World Series – Game 6: Yordano “Ace” Ventura shuts down Giants, forces Game 7 in Royals rout.

The 2014 World Series was as unpredictable a World Series as there ever had been. The Royals trailed the series, three games to two as the series came back to Kansas City. Therefore, it was a win or go home situation for the Royals. The Royals had their twenty-three year old rookie, Yordano Ventura, to the mound. Outside of giving up a three run home run to Brandon Moss in the American League Wild Card Game, Ventura had pitched very well in the postseason.

Ventura started out the game striking out Giants lead-off hitter, Gregor Blanco, and never looked back. Ventura would get ten runs of support, nine more than he needed on this night, as he struck out four in seven scoreless innings in a 10-0 victory to even the series at three and forcing a game seven. It was the best postseason pitching performance for the Royals since Game 7 of the 1985 World Series (more on that later).

#7 1985 World Series – Game 3: Frank White powers Royals to crucial victory over Cardinals.

No team in Major League history had ever won a World Series after losing the first two games at home. However, that’s where the Royals stood heading into Game 3 of the 1985 World Series. Desperately needing a win to avoid going down three to nothing, the Royals would have to take their show on the road to Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

With Bret Saberhagen on the mound and the Royals leading 2-0, Frank White stepped up to the plate against Joaquin Andujar with George Brett on first and nobody out. On the first pitch from Andujar, White hammered the first home run of the 1985 World Series and gave the Royals a 4-0 lead. Saberhagen ended up pitching a complete game and the Royals would go on to win, 6-1, in St. Louis.

#6 2014 American League Championship Series – Game 1: Alex Gordon cements his place in Royals history, Royals take early lead in series.

The Royals were no strangers to extra-inning games, having won three of them before the ALCS even began. In the top of the third with the Royals leading 1-0 and the bases loaded with two out, Alex Gordon stepped to the plate and faced the Orioles Chris Tillman. After working a full-count, Gordon looped a broken bat double down the right-field line that would empty the bases and give the Royals a 4-0 lead.

In the bottom of the inning, with the Orioles posing a threat, Gordon came out of nowhere to make a sliding catch in the left-center field gap to stop the threat. His biggest moment came in the tenth inning. With the game tied at five apiece, Gordon stepped to the plate to face Orioles reliever Darren O’Day. On a one ball, one strike count, Gordon hit a no doubt home run deep into the right field bleachers. Gordon’s final line: 3-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI. He also helped give the Royals a 1-0 lead in the series.

#5 1985 American League Championship Series – Game 3: George Brett homers twice, flashes Gold, as Royals defeat Blue Jays in critical Game 3.

It’s very rare that a single player takes a team on their back and wins a game in baseball. Baseball is the ultimate team sport. Yet, with the Royals facing a three to nothing deficit and having lost ten straight postseason games, George Brett did just that. It started in the bottom of the first inning. With two out and a one ball, one strike count, Brett came up and sent a Doyle Alexander into the right field seats to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. In the top of the third, with Damaso Garcia on third and only one out, Brett stretched for a sharply hit ground ball down the line.

Drifting into foul territory and away from home plate, Brett threw a dart to Jim Sundberg at home and got the force at the plate. In the bottom of the fifth, with the Royals trailing 5-3 and in danger of going down three games to none, Brett hit an opposite field two run homer to tie the game at five apiece. Brett then led off the bottom of the eighth with a lead-off single and came around to score what would be the winning run as the Royals would go on to win, 6-5. Brett’s final line: 4-4, 4 runs scored, 2B, Home Run, 3 RBI.

#4 1985 World Series – Game 7: New father, Bret Saberhagen, shut down the Cardinals as Royals win their first World Series.

Bret Saberhagen was fresh off of diaper duty when he took the mound for the decisive Game 7 of the 1985 World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The World Series Most Valuable Player and American League Cy Young winner kept the Cardinals off-balance as he shut down the Cardinals while the Royals offense, led by Darryl Motley’s 2-run homer off of John Tudor, scored eleven runs (ten more than he’d need) as the Royals routed the Cardinals, 11-0 to win their first and, to date, only World Championship. Saberhagen threw his second complete game of the series, finishing the series with a 2-0 record and allowing only one run over eighteen innings pitched for a 0.50 ERA. Saberhagen, himself, even scored one of the eleven Royals runs.

#3 1980 American League Championship Series: George Brett leaves the yard as the Royals vanquished their postseason demon, the Yankees, in a sweep.

The Royals had faced off against the New York Yankees in three straight ALCS’s from 1976-1978. The Royals came close in 1976, losing on a walk-off home run from Chris Chambliss in the decisive Game 5. The Royals held a lead going into the ninth of the decisive Game 5 in 1977, only to see it vanish when Royals ace, Dennis Leonard, surrendered the lead. In 1978, George Brett hit three home runs in Game 3 alone only to watch his team lose the game and the series.

In 1980, however, the Royals won the first two games at home with the series shifting to New York for the final three games. All the Royals had to do was win one of the next three games against the Yankees and they would win their first American League pennant. With the Royals trailing, 2-1, in the top of the seventh, George Brett stepped to the plate to face Yankees closer, Goose Gossage. It was a battle of two future Hall of Famers.

With two on and two out, Brett sent the first pitch he saw from Gossage into the upper deck of the right field bleachers in Yankees stadium to would vanquish their postseason demons and send Kansas City to their first World Series in franchise history.

#2 2014 American League Wild Card: Worth the wait. Salvador Perez walks-off, Royals enjoy first postseason victory in twenty-nine years.

1985. That was the last time the fans in Kansas City got to experience postseason baseball. The Royals, during that time, weren’t exactly “close”. From 1985-2014, the Royals had a grand total of eight winning seasons. During that same span, they had lost one hundred games four times. It was a dark period in the franchise’s history. That all changed when the Royals clinched a wild card spot and hosted the Wild Card Game against the A’s.

The Royals held a 3-2 lead going into the sixth against A’s ace, Jon Lester. However, the A’s scored five in the sixth to take a 7-3 lead. With the Royals still trailing by four in the eighth inning and with Lester still on the mound, things looked very grim. That’s where the magic began. The Royals scored three in the eighth to cut the deficit to one. In the ninth, after a Josh Willingham single, Jarrod Dyson pinch ran, was sacrificed to second, stole third, and scored on Nori Aoki’s sacrifice fly to tie the game at seven.

The game would remain tied until the twelfth when the A’s took an 8-7 lead. With one out, Eric Hosmer tripled high off the left field wall and scored on Christian Colon’s infield single to tie the game at eight. Salvador Perez stepped into the box with two outs and Colon still on first.

Perez had looked lost at the plate all night, going 0-5 in his previous five at-bats. After Colon stole second, one of seven on the night for the Royals, Perez grounded hit a liner just past a diving Josh Donaldson into left field. Colon scored from second, and twenty-nine of frustration was forgotten in one moment, a 9-8 victory in the American League Wild Card game.

The Royals became the first team in postseason history to come back from a four run deficit in the eighth inning or later of a winner-take-all game. Most importantly, it propelled the Royals toward their third American League pennant and set off a wild celebration that hadn’t been seen in Kansas City for nearly three decades.

#1 1985 World Series – Game 6: Dane Iorg sends them home happy. We go to a seventh.

The Royals played the role of comeback kids perfectly during the 1985 postseason. Trailing the Blue Jays three games to one in the ALCS, the Royals won the next three games to win the American League pennant. With that behind them, the Royals fell into a three games to one deficit against the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. After taking two out of three in St. Louis, the series shifted back to Kansas City with the Royals still needing to win both games and the Cardinals only needing one to secure a title. Game 6 was a pitcher’s duel between Kansas City’s Charlie Liebrandt and St. Louis’ Danny Cox.

The game remained scoreless until the Cardinals pushed across a run in the eighth to take a 1-0 lead. The score would remain their going into the bottom of the ninth. Down to their final three outs of the season, the Royals went to work doing what they had done all season, come back. Jorge Orta led off the inning against St. Louis rookie closer, Todd Worrell. Orta was ruled safe on a soft chopper to first (though replay would clearly show he was out) and the momentum started to shift. The next batter, Steve Balboni, hit a pop foul toward the Royals dugout.

The Cardinals Jack Clark and Darrell Porter got crossed and the ball dropped harmlessly in front of the dugout. Having been given new life, Balboni singled to left to put runners on first and second with nobody out. Up stepped Jim Sundberg, who tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt to put the winning run in scoring position, but Worrell made a great defensive play to get Orta out at third. Hal McRae, who wasn’t used that much during the series because of the pitchers spot, pinched hit for shortstop Buddy Biancalana.

On a one ball count, Worrell crossed up catcher Darrell Porter and the runners moved up to second and third with one out. Not wanting to let McRae beat them and wanting to keep the double play in order, the Cardinals intentionally walked McRae to load the bases for pinch hitter Dane Iorg. Iorg, who had been a member of the 1982 Cardinals World Championship team, hit a one ball count and looped it into right field.

Onix Concepcion, who was pinch running for Balboni, scored easily from third. Sundberg was waved home on Cardinals right fielder, Andy Van Slyke’s arm. Van Slyke made a perfect throw to the plate. Porter caught it, Sundberg slid to the outer part of the plate, Porter lunged, and Sundberg touched the plate just before Porter could apply the tag. The Royals had pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind 2-1 victory that sent the series to a decisive seventh game. The Royals would go on to win the seventh game and their first and to date, only, World Championship.

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