During his playing career in Kansas City, Mike Moustakas always talked about how the fans had his back.
Turns out, one of his best memories as a Royal was when those fans literally had his back when he went tumbling over the dugout suites railing to catch a foul ball in Game 3 of the 2014 ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles.
“When it’s the postseason, you’re just doing anything you can to win,” Moustakas said Thursday as the Royals celebrated their 2014 team that won the American League title and went all the way to the World Series. “All your attention is on winning each game, winning each pitch. And I remember going into the dugout suites and just putting everything out there on the line, and for some reason I caught it, and I fell, but I never hit the ground.
“And it just says so much about the city and the people of this city that they just held me up and ended up pushing me back over the railing. That’s what I remember. It was awesome.”
The Royals won their first eight playoff games that fall, fueled by their dramatic 12-inning comeback win against the A’s in the Wild Card game, as Salvador Perez hit a ball well out of the strike zone for a base hit to score Christian Colon for the game-winner. From there, the Royals traveled west to play the Angels, and Moustakas hit a home run in the 11th inning in Game 1 to spark a series sweep.
“I obviously didn’t play well that year,” Moustakas said. “But I remember the homework I did with the hitting coaches that day and I knew the pitcher liked to go 1-1 changeups, and I was waiting for it, and he threw it, and I ended up hitting a homer.”
After sweeping the Angels, the Royals did the same to the O’s but fell to the Giants in seven games in the World Series. The Royals, though, finished the job the next season and won the World Series — their first title in 30 years.
Moustakas played for the Royals from 2011 until he was traded in 2018. Then he played for the Brewers, Reds, Angels and Rockies and spent this spring training with the White Sox but didn’t make the club.
Moustakas had been back to Kansas City a few times as an opposing player, but seeing many of his old teammates at Kauffman Stadium again was something special.
“It means a lot, it means everything,” Moustakas said. “This is my first team that drafted me. Dayton (Moore) took a chance on me. And just coming back here, even when I was still playing, coming back here and seeing the fans and seeing the city. And when you get into Kauffman, it’s just a different world. It just feels like home, and this place is definitely home for me. It’s great to be back.”
