Royals manager Ned Yost expects another tough series

The road to this year’s World Series was quantifiably tougher for the Royals than last year.

In 2014, the Royals set a major-league record by winning the first eight games in a postseason. After facing elimination in the first game — a 12-inning, come-from-behind win over Oakland in the AL Wild Card Game — they swept the Los Angeles Angels in the Division Series and Baltimore in the ALCS.

“Last year it just kind of seemed a little easier,” Royals manager Ned Yost said Sunday before his team held a pre-World Series workout at Kauffman Stadium. “But this playoffs has been a real dogfight against a great Houston team and then a phenomenal Toronto team.”

This year, the Royals are 7-4 in the postseason. They survived two elimination games against the Astros in a five-game Division Series, and held off the Blue Jays from forcing a decisive Game 7 in the ALCS.

On Friday, Toronto had runners on second and third with no outs in the ninth inning after the Royals took a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth.

That followed a nearly one-hour rain delay in which closer Wade Davis had to stay fresh after getting two outs before the rain.

“What Wade did sitting out that rain delay was almost superhuman,” Yost said Sunday.

The Mets, 7-2 in the postseason, needed five games to beat Los Angeles in a NL Division Series but finished a four-game sweep of the Cubs on Wednesday. The Mets arrived in Kansas City on Sunday and took batting practice at Kauffman Stadium.

“We don’t expect this to be any easier,” Yost said. “It’s going to continue to get tougher.”

This story was originally published October 25, 2015 at 10:29 PM with the headline "Royals manager Ned Yost expects another tough series."