Few sports create a fall guy like baseball.
The New York Mets know all about fall guys. They were looking for their first World Series win since 1986, when Bill Buckner of the Red Sox infamously let a ground ball bobble through his legs.
The Mets’ wait for a title goes on as the Kansas City Royals last night claimed a 4-1 series win after an error that may well go down as the Buckner gaffe of this century.
With the Mets leading in the ninth and final regulation inning the Royals’ Salvador Perez grounded to Mets’ third baseman David Wright, who got Perez out with a throw to first but it was here that the double play went horribly wrong.
A good throw from first basemen Lucas Duda to home plate would have secured the game-winning out and forced the series to a sixth game back in Kansas. However Duda’s throw was wild and well wide of the catcher’s mit.
Instead of winning 2-1 the game was now tied at 2-2.
The game went to a 12th inning but when the Royals opened up a 7-2 lead and closed out the game to claim only their second ever World Series and their first since 1985.
