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Matt Harvey will try to get the New York Mets off to a flying start when baseball's World Series opens in Kansas City on Tuesday night.
Pitcher Harvey has been a big part of the Mets' success this season, going 13-8 with a superb 2.71 Earned Run Average on his return from more than a year out of action after surgery on his elbow.
The Mets have not won the World Series since 1986 - appearing in only one more edition since - and they take on the Royals on the back of a dominant 4-0 sweep of the Chicago Cubs, with Harvey taking to the mound.
They have so far been reliant on the 'Fearsome Foursome', a pitching rotation that features a resurgent Harvey and three of the league's best young prospects in Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz.
The Mets also boast the league's best post-season hitter in Daniel Murphy, who has seven home runs in his past nine games.
"We have a lot of weapons," Harvey said. "I don't think any of us have really sat back and kind of realised what we can accomplish as a group. Right now, it's about our team and about winning.
"We realise this is still just a baseball game and for me this is another start. It's on a different level but it's still baseball."
The New York Mets advanced to their first World Series since 2000 after beating the Chicago Cubs 8-3 Wednesday night, sweeping the NLCS
The New York Mets advanced to their first World Series since 2000 after beating the Chicago Cubs 8-3 Wednesday night, sweeping the NLCS
Mets manager Terry Collins had some tough choices to make about the order of his World Series rotation but says it is a luxury to have such depth, with veteran Bartolo Colon - a 14-game winner in the regular season - and Jon Niese also available.
"These guys are going to be really good and this experience is going to make them that much better," Collins said. "They're not just throwers, they're legitimate guys."
For Kansas City, the pain of last season's World Series defeat against the San Francisco Giants inspired them to want to go one better in 2015.
The Royals won the American League's Central Division, supposedly one of the most competitive, by 12 games to claim top seeding and then beat the Houston Astros and Toronto Blue Jays to set up a clash with the Mets.
"That's pretty hard to swallow," Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas said of their 2014 disappointment. "That's going to stay with you for a while. I think the only way to get rid of that feeling is to go out this year and finish the deal."
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