History on Royals’ side with Game 6

Matty Alou took third on Willie Mays’ double. With two outs, Willie McCovey stepped in to face Ralph Terry, who was protecting a 1-0 lead in Game 7 of the 1962 World Series between the Giants and Yankees.

“McCovey hits a rope, I thought it was going to kill Bobby Richardson,” at second base, Royals scout Art Stewart said. “If Bobby’s standing a foot or two away from where it was, he drives in two and the Giants win the World Series.”

Stewart, then a Yankees scout, vividly recalled the competitiveness of the series and how the Giants returned to Candlestick Park trailing in the series 3-2, got the victory in Game 6 and sent the World Series to a deciding game.

“It seems like that’s happened a lot, a home team getting it to a Game 7,” Stewart said.

Indeed it has.

This is the 110th World Series, and the 87th since the event went a 2-3-2 format in 1924. There were some exceptions on site sequence during the war years and a strike wiped out the 1994 World Series.

But the pattern has crossed all eras. Of the 53 series that have gone to a Game 6 since 1924, the home team has won 35, about 66 percent.

In no other World Series game is the home team’s winning percentage that great.

If the Royals are looking for positive trends, it gets better. Of the last 10 teams coming home that entered Game 6 trailing in the series, eight went on to win the World Series.

One of those teams was the Royals, in 1985, when they knocked off the Cardinals, starting with umpire Don Denkinger’s controversial call in the ninth inning of Game 6.

Among the other teams that maxed out their return were the Mets against the Red Sox in 1986, when the ball rolled through Bill Buckner’s legs in Game 6 and the Cardinals of 2011 on the Game 6 heroics of David Freese.

The Royals will take a victory Tuesday in any form, crazy play or ho-hum, to get the series to a seventh game on Wednesday. Having the game at Kauffman Stadium, where the Royals won Game 2 and are 5-1 in the playoffs, starting with the Wild Card Game triumph comeback triumph over the A’s, can mean everything.

“To play in front our home crowd will be amazing,” outfielder Lorenzo Cain said.

The team with the home field advantage has won 25 of the last 32 World Series, and if the Royals can force Game 6, they’ll look to extend the home team’s winning streak in those games to 10.

For this opportunity, the Royals can thank the American League All-Star team, managed by the Red Sox’ John Farrell, which outlasted the National League 5-3 at Minnesota’s Target Field on July 15.

World Series home-field advantage — the first two games and Games 6 and 7 if necessary — go to the team that represents the All-Star Game winner.

“I appreciate the efforts of John Farrell and the American League All‑Stars for providing that for us this year,” said Yost, who will have the same opportunity next summer when he manages the AL team as this season’s league champion.

That benefit started after the 2002 All-Star Game, and the Giants are looking to become only the fourth of 11 teams to win the World Series without starting at home. The Giants have grown accustomed to winning championships, beating the Rangers in five games in 2010 and sweeping the Tigers in 2012.

This year marked the first time in their run that they trailed in a World Series when the Royals took a 2-1 lead with Friday’s victory at AT&T Park, but now the Giants are on the verge of another title.

“I don’t think you change anything,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “In 2010 and 2012 we just went out there and played the game. They’re not going to put any added pressure on themselves.

“I don’t know what you would change. Get good pitching and timely hitting. That never changes.”

What will change, or at least be altered, is a historical trend. Game 6 has belonged to the home side.

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 8:05 AM with the headline "History on Royals’ side with Game 6."