Manager Ned Yost said Sunday's pregame celebration of his Kansas City Royals' 2015 World Series title was partially spoiled by the fact that the NL team they beat was forced to watch.
In a day of firsts, it was the New York Mets who had the dubious honor of being the first team in MLB history to relive a World Series defeat through a steady stream of big-screen highlights before the victor raised the championship banner on Opening Day -- in their face.
"It was just strange, the pregame ceremony," Yost said.
With interleague play now a season-long affair, Major League Baseball was able to kick things off with a dose of last year's crowning series, though the schedule was released in September, many weeks before the season's final pitch.
But in combining happenstance with a celebration of the end result of that matchup -- with the Mets forced to watch as they stood on the third-base line -- it created a prolonged moment that was, as The Kansas City Star called it, "a bit like sending your ex pictures of your honeymoon."
"I think I would have enjoyed it more if we played another team," Yost said.
Matt Harvey started for the Mets against Edinson Volquez. They also faced each other on the final day of 2015, in Game 5 at Citi Field, where the Royals rallied to win the title.
On Sunday, Volquez took the mound wearing a different hat than his teammates, the spring training version with a gold crown over the KC logo. But everything else went according to plan for the Royals, who picked up where they left off in November by beating Harvey and the Mets 4-3 at Kauffman Stadium.
"For them to relive that," Yost said, "it's a little awkward."
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.