30 luckiest sports franchises

27. Kansas City Royals

The Kansas City Royals have just two titles in their franchise’s history, but their most recent one needed an insane play and some bad luck on their opponent’s part to officially happen back in 2015.

The Royals were battling the New York Mets in the 2015 World Series, with both teams looking to break 30 and 29-year droughts, respectively. While up 3-1 in the series, the Royals still needed a little good fortune to go their way late in the series-clinching game to take home the win, and Lucas Duda was on the wrong end of the exchange.

With Eric Hosmer on third base, one out in the ninth inning and a 2-1 lead in the game, the Mets just had to hold Hosmer on to get the win and keep their hopes alive in Game 5. With two outs needed to send the series back to Kansas City, the Mets needed everything to go their way, and the Royals needed something to go even slightly wrong for the Mets to win their title.

Unfortunately for the Mets, the slightest thing went wrong, as Salvador Perez hit a blooping grounder to the third base side, causing some initial doubt on whether or not to throw the ball to first for the second out in the inning. After a delay, the ball made its way to first, and Hosmer made his way home.

After clinching the out at first, the Mets just needed a solid throw home to get Hosmer out and the series would live on for at least another night. However, the throw went wide right, Hosmer scored to tie the game, and the Royals went on to clinch it in extra innings in a 7-2 victory.

If not for that errant throw, who knows if the Royals would’ve finished the job in the series’ next two games. For now, they can attribute a little bit of luck to their second title in franchise history.