Salvador Perez remembers how exciting it was when playoff baseball returned to Kansas City after almost 30 years of disappointment. Fans switched from their red Chiefs shirts to Royals blue as they filled Kauffman Stadium.
The Royals made it to the World Series in 2014, losing a close Game 7 to the Giants. However, they came back the next year and won the title, taking both World Series games at home against the Mets before winning the championship in New York.
Now, the Royals are set to face the Yankees on Wednesday night in Game 3 of their AL Division Series. This will be the first playoff game at Kauffman Stadium since their championship run.
Perez, the 34-year-old All-Star catcher whose home run on Monday night helped tie the series with the Yankees, is excited to experience the postseason atmosphere again.
“It’s going to be amazing,” he said. “I think we have the best fans in MLB. I think it’s going to be good for everybody.”
Many are looking forward to the game, including Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who owns a share of the Royals. While leading the defending Super Bowl champions to victory over the Saints on Monday night, he noticed the crowd at Arrowhead Stadium cheering every time the Royals scored in New York.
With the Chiefs not playing this week, Mahomes hopes to attend the game on Wednesday night.
“We know the fans at Arrowhead are going to be loud and really into the game,” he said, “but I haven’t experienced that in Kauffman — sold out, playoffs and all that, so it was cool to see that combine.”
The Royals haven’t played a home game in over two weeks. They wrapped up the regular season by sweeping the Nationals and played in Atlanta, where they secured a playoff spot. Then they went to Baltimore and swept the wild-card series before heading to New York, where they split two games with the AL East champions.
The Royals have performed well at home this season, despite a rough stretch in late September. However, the Yankees might feel confident since they took three out of four games at Kauffman Stadium in mid-June.
