The 2015 MLB Postseason Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chicago Cubs

The Cubs last World Series win before 2015 was in 1908(!), making the 2015 season their 107th consecutive season without a World Series championship. The Rangers and Astros were expansion teams which had never won a World Series before 2015, but these teams had only been in existence since 1961 and 1962, respectively. The Pirates won in 1979.

Answer: Terry Collins of the Mets

Terry Collins - one of those "feel good" stories that make being a baseball fan so much fun. He was drafted in 1971 by the Pirates, and played for ten years in the minors without ever appearing in a major league game. His MLB managing career started in 1994 with the Astros for three years, followed by three years with the Angels, a stint in the Japanese leagues, and then in 2011 he became the manager of the Mets.

In 2015 his Mets unexpectedly won the NL East over the heavily-favored Nationals, propelling them into the 2015 postseason.

Answer: New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates

Interestingly, the Cubs and Astros both won as the visiting team in the wild card games, the Cubs shutting out the Pirates 4-0, and the Astros doing the same to the Yankees, 3-0. The wrong choices were all last-place finishers in their divisions in 2015.

Answer: Chase Utley

The 36-year-old Utley was acquired during the 2015 season by the Dodgers to be a utility infielder. He hit only .202 in 34 games, but helped out by playing three different infield positions for the Dodgers during those 34 games.

At the time of the infamous slide, the Dodgers were down one game to none in the Division Series, and in danger of going down two games to none. Utley ran into (hard to call it a "slide") Tejada while Tejada had his back to to Utley. Utley didn't start his "slide" until reaching second base, causing most baseball observers to call it a dirty slide.

Prior to the start of the 2016 season, MLB changed its rules to outlaw "rolling block" slides such as the one Utley made to take out Tejada.

The umpires failed to penalize Utley at the time, but the Commissioner's office later imposed a two-game suspension on Utley. Despite the unfortunate injury to their starting shortstop, the Mets went on to defeat the Dodgers three games to two in the Division Series.

The other choices are the starting second baseman for the other three teams in the two NL Division Series.

Answer: Daniel Murphy

Daniel Murphy was red hot during the division Series and the NLCS. He cooled off for the World Series vs Kansas City Royals, however, hitting only .150 and making two errors in the field. What made Murphy's seven postseason homers so remarkable was that the most homers Murphy had ever hit during any of his five full seasons in the majors was fourteen. The other choices are other Mets players who played in the World Series along with Murphy.

After the season, Murphy turned down a one-year $15.8 million offer from the Mets, and instead became a free agent and signed a three-year $37.5 million contract with the Washington Nationals.

Answer: Matt Harvey

This whole scenario was hugely ironic, because it was Harvey who created a firestorm in early September when his agent insisted that the Mets limit Harvey to 180 innings for the year, since he was coming back from Tommy John surgery. Harvey later reconsidered, and decided he wanted to pitch in the postseason after all.

After the game, Collins admitted that "I let my heart get in the way of my gut".

The other choices are the aces of the pitching staffs of the other three teams in the "final four": Price with the Blue Jays, Cueto with the Royals, and Arrietta with the Cubs.

Answer: Eric Hosmer

Hosmer had hit a double to score a run, then advanced to third on a groundout. Standing at third with one out, he visualized a play in which the ball would be hit to Mets third baseman David Wright, and he would take off for home as soon as Wright threw to first. A decent throw to home from Mets first baseman Lucas Duda would have nailed Hosmer easily, but the throw was off and Hosmer scored.

The Royals scouting reports had mentioned that Wright was slow to throw to first since his shoulder injury, and Duda had a below-average arm at first. Considering those factors, along with the improbability of the next batter doing anything productive against the Mets closer (who was now in the game, having replaced Harvey after Hosmer's double), Hosmer decided he would chance it if the opportunity arose.

The score remained tied 2-2 until the 12th, when the Royals scored five runs to take the game 7-2, and take the Series four games to one.

The wrong choices are other Royals starters. Escobar was the Royals shortstop and leadoff hitter, who started out the Series with an inside-the-park home run, an event so rare that it hadn't happened in a World Series since 1929. Then in the 14th inning of the first game, he scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly by Hosmer. Cain played center field, and Rios right field.

Answer: Salvadore Perez

Perez had eight hits in 22 at bats, and scored three runs. Signing Perez as a 16-year-old out of Venezuela was one of the first actions taken by new General Manager Dayton Moore when he took over in 2006. The scouting report on Perez was that he had a strong arm, a stability and presence behind the plate, and a big smile. The significance of the smile is that the Royals consciously set out to build a team with players who had a deep love of the game, and who would be a positive influence in the clubhouse. The fruits of the labors of Moore and his staff were reflected in the Royals success in getting to game seven of the World Series in 2014, and then winning it in 2015.

Gordon was the Royals left fielder and Zobrist the second baseman. Colon is another one of those "feel good stories. The utility infielder had not played in any of the postseason games until he came up as a pinch hitter in the 12th inning of game five of the World Series. He proceeded to hit a single, driving in the go-ahead run for the Royals. The year before he had accomplished similar postseason heroics, knocking in the tying run in the Wild Card game and then scoring the winning run.

Answer: True

The 2015 Royals were known for putting the bat on the ball, and when you do that, good things can happen. The Royals struck out the fewest times of any major league team in 2015, and they also walked fewer times than every other team but one. They also had fewer homers than any other American League team but one.

They simply put the bat on the ball to get runners on base, and then played enterprising ball to turn those base runners into runs.

Answer: True

Rather hard to believe, since expansion teams have been around since 1961, but the 2015 World Series was indeed the first to feature two expansion franchises. The Mets were formed in 1962, and the Royals in 1969. Of the fourteen expansion franchises in MLB at that time (out of thirty teams total), all have made it to at least one World Series except for the Washington Nationals (formerly Montreal Expos), and the Seattle Mariners.