By Josh Bennett
Sports Editor

October baseball is one of the most exhilarating months in sports, and in 2014, that was proven once again. 30 teams took the diamond in April to become one of the ten teams to qualify for postseason baseball. The ride ended on Wednesday, when the San Francisco Giants edged out the Kansas City Royals in seven games with the tying Royal run just 90 feet away.

Both leagues told their own unique stories this postseason. In the American League, we saw the resurgence of formerly bad small market clubs (Royals, Orioles), the return of a rebuilding powerhouse (Angels), a team bookmarked for greatness slipping into the dance (Athletics) and a familiar face in October (Tigers).

In the National League, we saw reappearances from strengthening small market teams (Nationals, Pirates), a building west coast powerhouse (Dodgers) and the two teams who have ruled the NL postseason for the past 4 years (Giants, Cardinals).

The story in the American League was the rise of the underdog. With teams like the defending World Series champion Red Sox and the Yankees missing the postseason, we saw many small market teams make the postseason, including the Royals who hosted the first wild card game against a slipping Athletics team which ended with a walk off hit in extra innings, foreshadowing the upcoming month.

After a pair of sweeps, underdog fans saw the Royals and Orioles battle during a time when football usually reigns supreme. The Royals train continued chugging along, using small ball, defense, speed, and the occasional home run to sweep the Orioles, and go to their third World Series in franchise history.

The Royals seemed to be a team of destiny. Considered to be the doormat of the AL Central, and MLB, for years, they finally made the postseason for the first time in 29 years, and rejuvenated a city that has not seen any postseason success in a while.

This was more than just a team winning. This was Kansas City as a whole rallying together with all of
the other long suffering Royals fans from all parts of the Earth, to witness an improbable run by their Royals that may never be seen again.

The Royals became the underdog team America was cheering for. They were fun to watch, fun to cheer for, and basically had the storybook ending all lined up for them, as all the pieces finally fell into place for them to not only make the postseason, but to make a good run at the title.

Standing in their way was the San Francisco Giants, winners of 2 of the last 4 World Series championships, and reached another World Series on an even numbered year. The Giants were the best team in the NL and would not have even made the playoffs under the old format, but found themselves fortunate to get in under the extra wild card team format.

The Giants easily disposed of the Pirates and took care of the Nationals to set up a NLCS showdown with the Cardinals, the only other team in the NL to reach the World Series in the past 5 playoffs. The Cardinals took out the Dodgers yet again, who continue their regular season success, but postseason struggles.

The Giants didn’t go through the NL as dominant as the Royals did in the AL, but they only dropped two games en route to this final showdown.

The only way this World Series could go was the full 7 games. While it would have been fun to see the Royals go undefeated in the postseason, there was just something special about these two teams meeting up.

They proved this, showcasing 6 exciting games, some close, some blowouts, which led to the final stand in Kansas City. The storybook ending was there for the Royals. Bottom of the 9th third, the batter was previously hit in the leg with a pitch and could have his redemption. The Giants had their ace pitcher on the mound. This game could have gone either way.

This time, it went the Giants way. The Cinderella story ended 90 feet short on a foul popup, while another story was written about the bi-annual dynasty in San Francisco, who only needs to get into the postseason, and will take care of the rest in October.

While it wasn’t the feel good ending most fans were hoping for, it was the feel good ending for Giants fans, and they definitely deserved it. Both teams deserved it, just as they deserved to be in the World Series to begin with.

This will be the last time we see any of these teams with these lineups. As the World Series concludes, and the champions raise the trophy, the offseason begins, where the other 20 teams that failed to reach the postseason will try to fix their problems.

This MLB postseason was as fantastic and exciting as last season (although I might be a little biased on last season as my beloved Red Sox took home the title). Next year’s postseason will find a way to top this one, even if we don’t think so.

Until then, we wait. We wait for the temperatures to warm back up, for the grass to grow again, for the mixed smells of grass clippings, infield dirt, and steaming hot dogs. We wait for baseball to begin again.

We wait for April 2015, and the brand new journey to the MLB Postseason.