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| Date | September 30, 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Kauffman Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City | Kansas City, Missouri | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Umpires | Gerry Davis (crew chief),James Hoye,Dan Iassogna,Bill Miller,Todd Tichenor,Bill Welke,Phil Cuzzi (replay),Tim Timmons (replay) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 40,502 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Television | TBS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TV announcers | Ernie Johnson Jr.,Ron Darling,Cal Ripken Jr., andMatt Winer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Radio announcers | Jon Sciambi andChris Singleton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The2014 American League Wild Card Game was aplay-in game duringMajor League Baseball's (MLB)2014 postseason played between theAmerican League's (AL) twowild card teams, theOakland Athletics and theKansas City Royals. It was held atKauffman Stadium inKansas City, Missouri, on September 30, 2014. The Royals won by a score of 9–8 in 12 innings,[1] and advanced to play theLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the2014 American League Division Series.[2] The game was televised byTBS and broadcast onESPN Radio.[3]
The game tied the then record for the longest (by innings) "winner-take-all" game in postseason history, shared with Game 7 of the1924 World Series.[4][5] This record was subsequently broken by the2018 National League Wild Card Game.
Since 2012, two wild card spots are available in each league for the two teams with the bestrecord that do not win their respectivedivision. For the 2014American League, the two spots were given to theKansas City Royals and theOakland Athletics. This was the second postseason meeting between the Athletics and Royals, having first met in the1981 ALDS (Athletics won the series 3–0).
Despite preseason predictions that were generally bleak,[6] the Royals won 89 games in the regular season, which represented the team's most wins since the1989 season.[7] Despite falling as far as seven games behind the division-leadingDetroit Tigers well into the season, the Royals went on a hot streak during the latter half of the regular season, giving them a playoff berth as a wild card team.[8] The 2014 American League Wild Card game represented the Royals' first postseason appearance since 1985.[7]
In contrast to the Royals, who had a better second half of the season, the Athletics had one of the best records inMajor League Baseball early in the season, but slumped towards the end of the season.[9] The Athletics also made several major trades to gain players likeJason Hammel andJon Lester to bolster the team.[10][11] Despite the late struggles, Oakland still won 88 games and secured a wild card spot, making 2014 the third straight season the team had made the playoffs.[12]
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | R | H | E | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Oakland | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 13 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Kansas City | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 15 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| WP:Jason Frasor (1–0) LP:Dan Otero (0–1) Home runs: OAK:Brandon Moss 2 (2) KC: None Attendance: 40,502 Boxscore | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The one-game playoff was touted as a duel between the Royals'James Shields and the Athletics'Jon Lester, but neither starting pitcher would earn a decision in the game. Oakland'sBrandon Moss homered early off of Shields withCoco Crisp on base, giving the Athletics a 2–0 advantage; Kansas City halved the lead in the bottom of the first whenBilly Butler singled to scoreNori Aoki.Lorenzo Cain andEric Hosmer had RBI hits for the Royals in the third inning, vaulting Kansas City to a 3–2 lead. In this third inning, Oakland catcherGeovany Soto left the game with a thumb injury sustained in a play at the plate. Soto had started the game because he would be more adept at controlling the running game of the Royals.[13] This would come back to haunt the Athletics later in the game. The fourth and fifth innings were scoreless, but a big sixth inning gave Oakland a large lead.Sam Fuld singled to lead off the inning, and Shields was relieved byYordano Ventura after walkingJosh Donaldson. Ventura's first batter, Moss, belted a three-run home run to give the Athletics a 5–3 lead. After Ventura was relieved byKelvin Herrera,Derek Norris and Crisp singled in two additional runs.
Both Oakland and Kansas City batted fruitlessly in the seventh inning, and Royals relief pitcherWade Davis recorded three straight outs in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, with Kansas City six outs away from having their season ended, the Royals manufactured a productive inning of their own.Alcides Escobar singled, and then stole second base with Nori Aoki at the plate. Lorenzo Cain singled, scoring Escobar. Cain stole second base himself with Eric Hosmer batting; Hosmer was then walked, at which point starting pitcher Jon Lester was relieved byLuke Gregerson. Nerves seemed to get the better of Gregerson, who allowed Billy Butler to single and score Cain, and then allowed Hosmer to score from third base on a wild pitch. After walkingAlex Gordon, Gregerson struck out the next two batters to preserve the Athletics' lead, but the Royals had narrowed the score to 7–6.
CloserGreg Holland took the mound for Kansas City and was somewhat shaky, walking three batters, but mustered the three required outs without major damage, and Kansas City took their one-run deficit to the bottom of the ninth.
Oakland's closer,Sean Doolittle, pitched in relief of Gregerson. Pinch-hitterJosh Willingham hit a bloop single and was replaced by pinch-runnerJarrod Dyson. Dyson moved to second base on a successful bunt from Alcides Escobar, and then stole third with Aoki at bat. Aoki hit a deep sacrifice fly to right field for the second out of the inning, but Dyson was able to jog home, tying the game at 7–7 and completing the Royals' four-run comeback. Cain lined out to end the inning for Kansas City.
Brandon Finnegan, who only three months earlier had pitched forTCU in theCollege World Series, began a strong inning of work in the tenth, replacing Greg Holland and recording three outs in quick succession. The Royals advanced Eric Hosmer to third base with two outs in the bottom of the tenth, butSalvador Pérez grounded out, putting a Royals victory on hold.
Finnegan again pitched well in the top of the 11th, allowing only one hit and striking out Brandon Moss, who had already hit two home runs. Kansas City's offense produced in the bottom of the 11th a situation identical to that of the tenth; the winning run stood 90 feet (27 m) away with two outs, butJayson Nix struck out to end the inning. Finnegan began the 12th inning by walkingJosh Reddick, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt byJed Lowrie. Finnegan was then relieved byJason Frasor. Pinch-hitterAlberto Callaspo of Oakland took a wild pitch from Frasor, allowing Reddick to go to third base. Callaspo then hit a line drive to left field, scoring Reddick. The new pitcher Frasor quickly stopped the bleeding by retiringDerek Norris andNick Punto, but the Athletics had retaken the lead, 8–7.
Lorenzo Cain failed to get the bottom of the 12th off to a promising start for Kansas City when he grounded out. The Oakland Athletics were two outs away from advancing to the ALDS. However, Hosmer nursed a lengthy at-bat into a deep hit off the left field wall that was poorly fielded, allowing him to reach third base.Christian Colon then managed an infield single to tie the game again, scoring Hosmer. Oakland pitcherDan Otero was replaced byFernando Abad, who threw to only one batter, Gordon, who popped out. Abad was then relieved byJason Hammel. Christian Colon, still on first base, stole second (the seventh steal of the game for the Royals) with Pérez at the plate, after apitchout was dropped byDerek Norris. Pérez (who was 0-for-5 at this point) then singled down the line to left field, the ball narrowly missing the outstretched glove ofJosh Donaldson. Colon scored, ending the marathon game with a Royals victory and a ticket to the ALDS against theLos Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
Kansas City would run the table on their way to the AL pennant, sweeping Los Angeles in three games of a five-game series and theBaltimore Orioles in four games of a seven-game series before losing in seven games to theSan Francisco Giants in the2014 World Series. This victory would be the first of four extra-inning victories for the Royals in the 2014 Postseason.
Many Royals fans consider it the most iconic in their franchise's history because of the incredible four-run comeback by Kansas City. Making it sweeter for certain Royals fans was their bitter feelings towards the Athletics, who had played in Kansas City from 1955 to 1967 before ownerCharles O. Finley moved the franchise to Oakland. It was also the Royals' first playoff game in 29 years.
The loss continued a streak in which the Athletics lost a game in which they could have won to advance to the next round. They had previously lost Game 5 in the ALDS in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2012, and 2013. The Athletics are the most recent team to be within three outs of advancing in the playoffs and lose the round. They would not return to the postseason again until the 2018 AL Wild Card Game.
This was only the second game in MLB playoff history where a team lost after being within three outs of winning a playoff round in more than two innings in the same game, after Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.
| External videos | |
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 2014 AL Wild Card Game (Athletics vs. Royals) onYouTube |