2015 World Series Champions: KC Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

2015 World Series Champions: KC Blu-ray Movie Review

Show Me the World Series.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 19, 2015

They were so close! 2014's Kansas City Royals team pushed the even-number-year powerhouse San Francisco Giants to seven games and had the tying run 90 feet away in the ninth inning. In real life, that's nothing. In baseball, and in the World Series, that may as well be 90 miles. And an entire offseason to replay it over and over. The Royals, one of the American League's perennial cellar dwellers, gave their fans something cheer for in 2014 and hope for more in 2015. But repeating is never easy, and particularly not when a team's division consists of the perennially strong Detroit Tigers, a club that boasts the world's best hitter; a revamped Chicago White Sox team with visions of greatness; a Cleveland Indians squad coming off a 2014 playoff run; and a Minnesota Twins team that, in 2015, would go on a surprise run and nearly make the postseason. The Royals, however, didn't panic. Led by Dayton Moore in the front office and Ned Yost in the dugout and featuring a returning core featuring players like Salvador Pérez, Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Wade Davis, and Yordano Ventura, the team was sneaky-stacked with excellent players who may not have the star quality of an Andrew McCutchen or the name recognition of a Mike Trout but that, as a unit, were as formidable as any in the game, and they were hungry to prove that 2014 was no fluke and finish what was a year before only 90 feet and a lifelong dream away.

Brushback.

The 2015 Royals won 95 games, a six-game improvement over the team's 89-win Wild Card 2014 campaign. The club played dominant ball in the first half, accumulating a 52-34 record heading into the All-Star break and further bolstered the club with two key acquisitions prior to the trade deadline: utility player Ben Zobrist and starting pitcher Johnny Cueto. Though Cueto struggled a bit down the stretch and the Royals scuffled in September, the club won its final five games of the season and secured home field advantage throughout the American playoffs and the World Series, the former thanks to earning the American League's best record and the latter by virtue of the junior circuit's victory in the aforementioned midsummer classic. The Royals' first opponent was the up-and-coming Houston Astros, a young franchise that, like the Royals, has pointed itself in the right direction and experienced success a year before the talent was expected to truly propel the club to greatness. The Royals found themselves down 2 games to 1 in the best-of-five series but, thanks to Houston having to burn ace and eventual AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel in the one-and-done vs. the Yankees, the Royals would not have to face an unstoppable ace in games four or five, two games the Royals won by scores of 9-6 and 7-2. Next up in the ALCS were the powerhouse Blue Jays, the popular pick to go to, and win, the World Series following an absolutely dominant second half bolstered by trade deadline acquisitions David Price and Troy Tulowitzki. The Royals took the first two games in KC. The Jays rebounded with wins in games three and five and returned to the Show Me state needing to win twice to advance. That wouldn't happen. The Royals won game six, 4-3, to advance to the World Series for a second straight year where they'd be guaranteed to face a new opponent; the Giants failed to reach the postseason in a year dominated by the NL Central.

The New York Mets didn't exactly fly under the radar in 2015, but they were a surprise division winner over the vaunted Washington Nationals, a team with World Series aspirations bolstered by an offseason signing of free agent pitcher Max Scherzer and a lineup that included the eventual 2015 NL MVP Bryce Harper. The Mets plowed through the first half of the season and amassed a respectable 47-42 record at the break, a record bolstered by top-notch starting pitching but suffering under the weight of an uninspired offense that included a shelved David Wright. But the club, under the leadership of General Manager Sandy Alderson and Skipper Terry Collins, acquired several key pieces at the deadline, including Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe from the Braves and, in what would turn out to be the single biggest trade deadline acquisition of the season, slugging outfielder Yoenis Céspedes, whose second half was practically the stuff of legend. The Mets surged as the Nationals faded. The team finished with a 90-72 record, seven better than the Nats but only the fifth best record in the senior circuit. But by virtue of winning the division, the Mets bypassed the three top teams in the NL in the first round -- the Cardinals, the Pirates, and the Cubs -- and played the Dodgers in the NLDS, the club with the fourth best record in the NL. It was a dream matchup for fans of pitching; the Dodgers slotted in two Cy Young winners at the top of their rotation in Clayton Kershaw and Zach Greinke while the Mets countered with Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard. The Mets would split the four games started by the pair of aces and won what turned out to be a pivotal game three with Matt Harvey beating Brett Anderson to take a 2-1 series lead and eventually win game 5, 3-2, behind Jacob deGrom. In the NLCS, the Mets faced a cinderella Cubs squad that, like the Astros, arrived a year or so earlier than predicted. But both the spotlight and the wear and tear from regular season and postseason clashes with the powerhouse Cardinals and Pirates proved too much to bear for Joe Maddon's young squad. The Mets swept the Cubs en route to the Fall Classic.

By virtue of the way the postseason works it's fair to say that both the Royals and Mets were hot coming into the World Series, the Mets perhaps a bit more so, and a bit more rested, thanks to sweeping the Cubs and the Royals' six-game clash with the juggernaut-ish Blue Jays. But with the action starting in Kansas City, there was no reason to believe that the Royals wouldn't be up to the task. Game one turned out to be a marathon. With the Royals down 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning, outfielder Alex Gordon belted a home run to tie the game at 4, a score that would until the 14th inning when the Royals would plate a single tally on an Eric Hosmer sacrifice fly to take game one. Game two was far less dramatic. Trade deadline acquisition Johnny Cueto twirled a gem, surrendering one run on two hits and leading the Royals to a 7-1 victory and a 2-0 series lead. The Mets faced a game that was as close to a must-win as a game can be without being a do-or-die affair, and with the scene shifting back to Queens -- and Noah Syndergaard on the mound -- things were looking up for the Metropolitans. Syndergaard pitched well and the offense exploded for nine runs en route to a 9-3 laugher, putting the Mets squarely back in the thick of the race for the ring. But the Royals would seize command back in game four with a 5-3 win and put the series away, decisively, in game five with a five-run outburst in the 12th inning to take the game 7-2 and bring the World Series title back to Kansas City.

2015 World Series Champions is disappointingly straightforward. Unlike previous releases that contained at least a little discussion of the team's offseason, regular season, trade acquisitions, and playoff series prior to the Fall Classic, this one jumps straight to World Series game one after a fluff opening. It's in depth and detailed, featuring plenty of interviews on both sides, great footage beyond the standard broadcast highlights, and of course a good bit of TV replay footage. Paul Rudd narrates well and the disc paints a vivid picture of the 2015 World Series, but that the producers couldn't be bothered to present an entire season portrait is disappointing to say the least, particularly considering that the companion offers nothing but the games. In short: it's good, just not for anything beyond the boundaries of the World Series.

2015 World Series Champions: KC Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

2015 World Series Champions delivers a satisfying viewing experience. The 1080i image is prone to leaving behind a few combing artifacts but the 1.78:1-framed image is otherwise good to go. There's a mixture of video footage, HD broadcast material, and some film elements in play. All of them are superb. Facial textures are refined and detailed in the mostly static interview footage. Uniform fabric stands apart, and the heavily textured numbers, letters, and patches look tactile and complex. Definition extends into the crowd and stadium details, brining the entire experience to life. Uniform colors -- blues on both teams and orange accents for the Mets -- pop. Green grass and earthy dirt offer a beautiful baseball balance. Signage around the stadiums is crisp. Flesh tones aren't problematic and black levels are deep. This is a solid all-around presentation that will thrill baseball fans.

2015 World Series Champions: KC Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

2015 World Series Champions features a nuts-and-bolts DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Narration and music dominate. Both cover the undercurrents of baseball, like crowd noise, to define the experience. Music is well spaced, dominant in the front but offering clearly defined notes and a positive low end line. Narration is center focused and naturally detailed, allowing Rudd's cadence and vocal subtleties to shine. More raw broadcast audio highlights and both on-field and pressroom interview clips vary a little more in quality but basic definition and center focus never fail. The track isn't particularly dynamic or memorable, but it handles the straightforward material with commendable professionalism and ease.

2015 World Series Champions: KC Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

2015 World Series Champions contains the following extras:

• Mission October: Royals Clubhouse (720p, 2:23): Inside the clubhouse, the weight room, and the video room, a few players share their thoughts and a few mementos of their postseason clinching victory and discuss preparations for securing home field advantage throughout the playoffs.
• World Series Highlights (720p, 7:21): A few key moments from games one, two, and five are stitched together and sourced from the original broadcast.
• Clinching Moments (720p, 5:40): A look at the moments in which the team clinched the division, the ALDS, and the ALCS.
• Intentional Talk: Salvador Pérez (720p, 9:21): The Royals catcher sits down with MLB Network's Chris Rose and Kevin Millar.
• MLB Tonight: Championship Interviews (720p, 9:47): Ben Zobrist, Eric Hosmer, Jarrod Dyson, Salvador Pérez, and Manager Ned Yost join MLB Network's Greg Amsinger, Al Leiter, and Sean Casey on the field after winning the World Series.
• MLB Inside the Show (720p, 5:57): Ryan Madson's journey with the Royals in his return to Major League Baseball after a several year absence and a look at the team's success in 2015 comprise this supplement.
• National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum: 2015 World Series (720p, 1:15): A short look at some of the 2015 World Series memorabilia that's found its way to Cooperstown.
• World Series Parade (720p, 2:29): Highlights from the victory parade.
• MLB DVDs: Previews for The Official Major League Baseball World Series Film Collection (480i, 0:32) and Baseball's Greatest Games Collector's Edition (1080i, 0:31).

2015 World Series Champions: KC Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Royals give hope to all of the smaller market teams in baseball and, considering that they appear poised to sustain a long run of excellence, are proof that spending wisely, drafting smart, waiting for players to develop, and making shrewd deadline and offseason deals are the keys to baseball success, not simply throwing money at whoever has the biggest numbers on the back of his baseball card. Even as the team lost Johnny Cueto to World Series rival San Francisco and, at time of writing, are waiting to see what happens with free agent outfielder and lifelong Royal Alex Gordon, the club shows no signs of slowing down or finishing anywhere other than first in an increasingly tough American League Central in which the White Sox have added Todd Frazier, the Tigers Jordan Zimmerman, and the Twins and Indians franchises continue to rise. This Blu-ray release of 2015 World Series Champions features good video, audio, and supplements. The main program is great except that it doesn't stretch beyond the World Series. Regardless, this is obviously a must-own for Royals fans, but general baseball audiences should enjoy it, too.