Yankees & Royals to Face Off in Post-Season for First Time Since 1980

The Division Series in both the AL and NL begins tomorrow.

Last night, the New York Mets bested the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card matchup on a 3-run HR by Pete Alonso.

The other wild card series were sweeps with the San Diego Padres ousting the Atlanta Braves, the Detroit Tigers upsetting the Houston Astros while the Kansas City Royals swept the Baltimore Orioles.

The Mets and Padres will face the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS, respectively while the Tigers and Royals will face the Cleveland Guardians and the New York Yankees in the ALDS, respectively.

It is the latter matchup between the Yankees and Royals which fascinates me the most as it marks the first time the two teams have faced each other in the post-season since 1980.

Yes, the ALDS is a best of five series. But when the Yankees and Royals faced each other in the ALCS it was also a best of five series. Plus ca change.

Between 1976 and 1980, the Yankees and Royals faced off in the ALCS four times. The Yankees won each of the first three contests from 1976-1978 - the most famous being 1976 when Chris Chambliss hit the walk off homerun against Mark Littell with Chambliss being mobbed by thousands of Yankees fans. There was also the brawl between George Brett and Graig Nettles during the 1977 ALCS. Incredibly, neither man was ejected from the game. After both teams failed to make the post-season in 1979, they would meet again in 1980. This time the Royals would sweep the Yankees winning their first AL pennant.

The two teams had an intense rivalry into the early 1980's reaching its peak with the infamous George Brett pine tar game in 1983.

During this period the Yankees had the likes of Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Willie Randolph, Ron Guidry and Goose Gossage led by Billy Martin and later Bob Lemon while the Royals had the likes of George Brett, Frank White, Hal McRae, Dennis Leonard and Paul Splittorff led by Whitey Herzog and later by Jim Frey and Dick Howser. 

Today, the Yankees are led by Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Rodon and rookie Luis Gil with longtime manager Aaron Boone while the Royals are led by Bobby Witt, Jr., Salvador Perez (the one holdover from the Royals 2015 World Series championship team), Vinnie Pasquantino, Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha led by Matt Quatraro.

It remains to be seen if the Yankees and Royals will have the sort of rivalry which they had in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but it is good to see the two teams face each other in the post-season again.