Royals collect more hardware with MLB Awards
KANSAS CITY -- A celebration of the World Series champion Royals' 2015 season continued on Saturday, when three key members of the organization received their Esurance MLB Awards for their accomplishments throughout the club's title run.
Wade Davis won the award as Best Major Leaguer in the Postseason, for his performance in Game 6 of the American League Championship Series against Toronto. Eric Hosmer won Best Moment, for his mad dash home in Game 5 of the World Series, and general manager Dayton Moore was honored as Best Executive for the second year in a row, as the architect of the Royals' resurrection to greatness in 2014 and '15.
The winners were presented with their awards during a ceremony prior to the Royals-Twins game at Kauffman Stadium.
After pitching in the eighth inning during Game 6 of the ALCS, Davis sat through a 45-minute rain delay and came back out for the ninth to protect a one-run lead. The Blue Jays had the potential tying run on third with none out, but after a walk, Davis struck out the next two hitters before inducing a ground ball from Josh Donaldson.
The final out secured the AL pennant and sent the Royals to their second consecutive World Series.
Hosmer's dash home in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series against the Mets tied the score and sent the game to extra innings. The Royals won the game in the 12th inning, capturing their first World Series title in three decades.
Moore, currently in his 10th full season with the Royals, built a roster largely dependent on the organization's own homegrown talent. After years of the farm system consistently ranking among the best in the Major Leagues, Moore's vision came to fruition with a 2015 World Series title, with a roster consisting of 11 players either drafted by the Royals or signed as non-drafted free agents.
By beating the Mets in five games in the Fall Classic, the Royals became just the fourth team since 2000 to reach the World Series in back-to-back seasons after coming up just short of the title in 2014.
The Esurance MLB Awards annually honor Major League Baseball's greatest achievements as part of an industry-wide balloting process that includes five components, each of which accounts for 20 percent of the overall vote: media, front-office personnel, retired MLB players, fans at MLB.com and Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) voters.