The Kansas City Royals and New York Mets are this year’s participants in the World Series.  Interestingly enough, this is the first Fall Classic since the expansion era began in 1961 to not feature one of the original 16 teams.  That’s not all the Royals and Mets have in common.  Each primarily wear blue.  Both teams have at some point in their history famously feuded with the Yankees.  Neither team was predicted by PECOTA to be anywhere near the World Series this year.  And, speaking of which, Bill Pecota played for both teams.

Similarities aren’t that interesting though, at least, not during the World Series.  No, we want drama.  And to reach peak drama there needs to be two opposite forces vying for the same thing at the expense of the other.  Clearly the latter part of that equation is present because that’s the main tenet of competition.  But are these two teams different?  Well, yes.  For starters, they rely on different aspects of baseball to win, as shown by Eno Sarris’s recent column at Fangraphs.

The differences don’t end there though.  Here’s what else you need to know about each city and team heading into Game 1 on Tuesday evening:

THE CITIES

New York City

Population: 8.5 million residents

Nickname: The City Where People Do Stuff

Famous Cuisine: A slice of deep dish pizza from Uno Pizzeria on E. 86th

Most Notable Resident: Former U.S. Representative Gary L. Ackerman

Popular Park:  Central Park

Kansas City

Population: 470,800 residents

Nickname: Beantown (I think)

Famous Cuisine: Barbecue potato chips

Most Notable Resident: Jeff Allen, OL for the Kansas City Chiefs

Popular Park:  Central Park

THE TEAMS

New York Mets

Founded: 1962

World Series Titles: 1969, 1986

Fight Song: Meet the Mets by Ruth Roberts and Bill Katz

Heaviest Concentration of Fans: Presumably the one-square block in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens, where Citi Field is located – so long as the Mets have a home game and the Yankees are far, far away.

Most Famous Fan: (the guy on the left)

Greatest Moment in Franchise History:

Prominent Cameo in Cinema:  At the 2:10 mark in the final climactic scene of Crocodile Dundee, Mick Dundee steps on the head of a guy in a Mets’ cap.

Fun Fact: Mets 2B Daniel Murphy has homered in six straight postseason games – second only to Joe DiMaggio, who reportedly homered in 56 straight World Series games in 1941.

Kansas City Royals

Founded: 1969

World Series Titles: 1985

Fight Song: Kansas City by Okkervil River

Heaviest Concentration of Fans: Western Missouri and most of Kansas

Most Famous Fan:

Greatest Moment in Franchise History:

Prominent Cameo in Cinema: In Man of Steel, young Superman wears a Royals shirt that looks faded and vintage but I can’t shake this feeling that he bought it like that.

Fun Fact: The 2015 Royals are trying to become the first team to win a World Series without having a single player to stand over 5’6″ tall.

PREDICTION

I’m siding with the Mets’ starting pitching and Uno’s deep dish – they’re taking this series in five.