Most Kansas Citians already knew it’s hard not to love the Kansas City Royals, but even die-hard Mets fans can’t help but like the boys in blue.
Cody Rogers drove 21 hours from Catskill, New York, to get to Kansas, where he's been working for the summer in the wind turbine industry.
A Mets fan, he was at Game 1 of the World Series at Kauffman Stadium. “The Mets mean everything to me,” says Rogers.
Rogers kept up with the Mets by watching games online. There were ups and downs over the season, but Rogers was thrilled when the team clinched the National League East Division.
“You deal with a lot of years of hard baseball just fighting for wins whenever you can get them. They make the World Series out of nowhere. They haven’t been to the postseason since ’06. It’s just magic.”
Those sentiments probably sound familiar to Royals’ fans, and Rogers says the Mets and Royals have a lot in common.
“They’re the same type of baseball team,” says Rogers. “They’re hard-nosed. They’ve got hard-throwing pitchers. They’re a blue-collar baseball team.”
Rogers says since the two teams are in different leagues there’s not much of a conflict. “I will root for the Royals when they’re playing anybody but the Mets.”
Mary Lyddane lived in Queens until four years ago when she and her family moved to the Wichita for work.
“The family was Brooklyn Dodgers fans, but when they moved, my mom became a Mets fan, and she was the heart of it all,” says Lyddane, a former NYPD officer.
Lyddane carried on the Mets tradition by naming her son after former Mets pitcher Tom Seaver, who helped the team win the World Series in 1969.
Even with this kind of family loyalty to the Mets, Lyddane has a soft spot for the Royals. “The Mets are probably the only team I’d root for over the Royals, but you can’t go against the Mets,” says Lyddane.
At least one Royals fan, actor Paul Rudd, is a member of the Mets-Royals mutual admiration society. Rudd told the New York Daily News that he’s “always liked the Mets.”
Rudd grew up in Overland Park and has been in the stands during the post-season. Heck, in 2014 he invited all of Kansas City over to his mom’s house after the Royals made it into the World Series.
“If the Royals were to lose to the Mets in this Series, that’s OK,” Rudd told the paper, noting both teams’ frustrations over the years. Still, Rudd true to his home-town roots is “pulling for the Royals all the way.”
Sam Zeff covers education for KCUR. He's also co-host of KCUR's political podcast Statehouse Blend. Follow him on Twitter @samzeff.
