The Kansas City Royals have a winning formula heading into Game 3 of the World Series in 2015. One of the factors in this equation is the talent at starting pitcher, and much of that talent was born outside the United States.
Three of the starters for Kansas City were born outside the USA, and Richard Justice of MLB.com notes this is the first time in history that this has happened.
Royals first team to start 3 pitchers born outside USA in #WorldSeries: Ventura, Volquez, Cueto born in Dominican Republic. @Royals @Mets
— Richard Justice (@richardjustice) October 30, 2015
Yordano Ventura gets the start tonight, Friday Oct. 30, making him the third after Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto both made their starts in the first two games of the World Series. Interestingly, this wouldn’t have happened except for the fact Kansas City made a trade for Cueto in late July.
So far the foresight of general manager Dayton Moore to make that move has paid off, perhaps better than anyone anticipated. Cueto was brilliant in Game 2 of the 2015 World Series, pitching a complete game while allowing just two hits and one run.
Now it’s Ventura’s turn to see if he can keep the positive momentum going for the Royals, who are just two games away from winning the championship.
He’s going to have a different challenge than his two Dominican Republic teammates, however, starting this one on the road. The New York crowd will be as hostile as any he’s ever faced, which is something that’s on the mind of catcher Salvador Perez.
“I’ll just talk to him a lot and tell him to concentrate. He knows we’re going to play in New York, he’s going to hear a lot of booing,” Perez said Thursday, per Gabe Lacques of USA Today Sports. “He’s going to need to concentrate.”
Should Ventura come through with an outstanding performance, then the red-hot Royals will have a tremendous opportunity to go up three games on the Mets, which would almost certainly seal the series.
Though Kansas City is the first World Series team with three pitchers born outside the USA, nobody should be surprised if this is the beginning of a new trend as the years go by. More and more, baseball is becoming an international game, and we’re seeing the result of that truth in action in 2015 for the Royals.