NEW YORK
Before Friday night at Citi Field, 23 teams had taken three-games-to-none World Series leads.
All 23 went on to win the World Series.
The intoxicating scenario of leading 3-0 wouldn’t have ensured the Royals their second world championship and first in 30 years, and becoming pioneers wouldn’t have been impossible for the New York Mets.
But the advantage would have been somewhere between impregnable and, oh, infinite for the Royals.
And the context would have been fraught with hazards for the Mets if they couldn’t apply a tourniquet to the Royals’ 2-0 advantage in Game 3.