Cardinals–Royals rivalry
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The Cardinals–Royals rivalry (also known as the Show-Me Series or I-70 Series) is a Major League Baseball (MLB) interleague rivalry between the St. Louis Cardinals of the National League (NL)
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division and the
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
of the American League (AL)
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
division. Both teams played against each other for the first time in the
1985 World Series The 1985 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1985 season. The 82nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Kansas City Royals and the Na ...
, which the Royals won 4-3. Owing to their geographical proximity, these two teams face each other every regular season in interleague play (a setup known as a "natural rivalry").


Background

The Cardinals are one of Major League Baseball's oldest teams, having played in the National League in St. Louis since they were formed in 1882 as the Brown Stockings. The Royals joined the majors in 1969 as one of the American League's first expansion teams. Until major league baseball introduced interleague play in 1997, the only opportunity for the Cardinals and the Royals to meet was in the
1985 World Series The 1985 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1985 season. The 82nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Kansas City Royals and the Na ...
. The two teams had gone through several periods of prolonged success (and several notable droughts) leading up to the World Series. The Cardinals fell on hard times in the 1970s after winning the
1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
and the
1967 World Series The 1967 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1967 Major League Baseball season, 1967 season. The 64th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL ...
and appearing in the
1968 World Series The 1968 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1968 Major League Baseball season, 1968 season. The 65th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between American League (AL) ch ...
. The
Kansas City Royals The Kansas City Royals are an American professional baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team was founded as an expans ...
had become one of the best teams in baseball by the late 1970s, reaching the American League playoffs six times from 1976 to 1984, including the
1980 World Series The 1980 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) season. The 77th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National League (NL) champion 1980 Philadelphia Phill ...
. After several down years, the Cardinals emerged as a pennant contender in the early 1980s, winning the
1982 World Series The 1982 World Series was the World Series, championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1982 Major League Baseball season, 1982 season. The 79th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the National Leag ...
.


1985 World Series

The first official meeting between the Cardinals and Royals was in the
1985 World Series The 1985 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1985 season. The 82nd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Kansas City Royals and the Na ...
. This marked only the second time in baseball history that two teams from the state of Missouri met in the World Series. The first time was in , when the Cardinals played against the St. Louis Browns. The Cardinals won the National League East division by three games over the New York Mets and then defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-2 in the National League Championship Series. The Royals won the American League West division by one game over the
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and then defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 in the
American League Championship Series The American League Championship Series (ALCS) is a best-of-seven playoff and one of two League Championship Series comprising the penultimate round of Major League Baseball's (MLB) postseason. It is contested by the two winners of the American ...
. The Royals lost the first two games of the World Series at their home stadium and were on the verge of elimination, down 1-0 in the bottom of the ninth in game six, when umpire Don Denkinger made a controversial call, ruling runner Jorge Orta safe at first. Orta was later thrown out at third on a botched sacrifice attempt and did not score. The Royals would go on to win the game 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth following the put-out of Orta (the only out recorded in the inning). The Royals then went on to win game seven the following day 11-0 for their first World Series title. The Royals became the first team ever to win the World Series after dropping games 1 and 2 at home. The Royals did not return to the MLB postseason for 29 years, winning one of the American League wild cards in 2014 and advancing to the
2014 World Series The 2014 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2014 season. The 110th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion San Francisco Giants and the Ameri ...
. The following season, they claimed their first title since 1985 by winning the
2015 World Series The 2015 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2015 season. The 111th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion New York Mets and the American Leag ...
. Cardinals manager
Whitey Herzog Dorrel Norman Elvert "Whitey" Herzog (; born November 9, 1931) is an American former professional baseball outfielder and manager, most notable for his Major League Baseball (MLB) managerial career. He made his MLB debut as a player in 1956 wit ...
had been the Royals' manager from 1975 to 1979. He led Kansas City to the franchise's first three playoff appearances – in 1976, 1977, and 1978 – before getting fired just shortly after the Royals were eliminated from the playoffs in 1979.


Interleague play

The introduction of interleague play to major league baseball in 1997 allowed the I-70 Series to be revived in regular season games. The teams have played every year since 1997, with several changes in format – variously playing 3-game, 4-game and 6-game season series. Through the 2022 season, the Cardinals lead the regular-season interleague series, 73-47. The first few seasons of the series were nearly even, with the Cardinals holding a slight advantage with a 14–13 record through the 2003 season. The Royals took two out of three from the Cardinals in 2010 behind victories from starting pitchers Zack Greinke and Bruce Chen. In 2011, the Cardinals won four of the six match-ups, three of them in the eighth inning or later. The last four games in the series were one-run games. In 2012, the Cardinals again won four of the six games, on the strength of a three-game sweep in Kansas City over June 22–24. The Royals won the season series in 2014 for the first time since 2010, taking 3 out of 4. They won the first two games in St. Louis 6-0 and 8-7 respectively, and after losing Game 3 5-2 in 11 in Kansas City, won the final game 3-2 after being down 2-0 late.


Results summary

Note: All game scores are listed with the visiting score first


See also

* Governor's Cup (Missouri)


References


External links


Kansas City Royals And St Louis Cardinals Share More Than Just A StateBaseball’s New Schedule Should Be All About Rivalries

Cardinal-Royals Preview

A Word On The Series"There's always a festive air when the St. Louis Cardinals come to Kauffman Stadium to renew the old Missouri rivalry with the Royals."


Bibliography

*Spivak, Jeff. ''Crowning the Kansas City Royals: Remembering the 1985 World Series Champs''. Sports Publishing LLC. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardinals-Royals rivalry Annual events in Major League Baseball Interleague play Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball rivalries St. Louis Cardinals Sports in the Midwestern United States 1985 establishments in Missouri Baseball in Missouri