The road to this year’s World Series was quantifiably tougher for the Royals than last year.
In 2014, the Royals set a major-league record by winning the first eight games in a postseason. After facing elimination in the first game — a 12-inning, come-from-behind win over Oakland in the AL Wild Card Game — they swept the Los Angeles Angels in the Division Series and Baltimore in the ALCS.
“Last year it just kind of seemed a little easier,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Sunday before his team held a pre-World Series workout at Kauffman Stadium. “But this playoffs has been a real dogfight against a great Houston team and then a phenomenal Toronto team.