Alcides Escobar Had One Of The Best Playoff Series Ever For A Leadoff Hitter

The Kansas City Royals are headed back to the World Series after beating the Blue Jays last night. Jose Bautista was tremendous, hitting two monster homers, but Lorenzo Cain scored in the bottom of the eighth off of a Eric Hosmer single. It was an illustrative breakdown of the two team’s styles: Toronto scored all their runs off of homers and Kansas City’s most important run was a product of a walk and some intelligent baserunning.

He didn’t have a great game last night, but Alcides Escobar was an opportunistic smallball wizard all series long, and he earned the ALCS MVP award for his troubles. There was that ridiculous catch on a Russell Martin liner back in Game 2, his .478 average, and, most impressively, setting a record by getting a hit in his leadoff appearance in the first four games.

Escobar joined Dustin Pedroia to become only the second leadoff hitter in LCS history to reach double digit hits and bring home five RBIs. He takes a 10-game playoff hitting streak into the World Series, which starts Tuesday.

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