Royals-Cubs could be a rare World Series preview
The Kansas City Royals and Chicago Cubs have both wrapped up playoff spots for the 2015 postseason, making tonight's makeup game at Wrigley Field a potential World Series preview in the regular season.
And there haven't been many of those over the years.
TEAMS TO PLAY IN REGULAR SEASON AND WORLD SERIES IN SAME SEASON*
| Year | World Series winner | World Series loser |
| 1999 |
New York Yankees | Atlanta Braves |
| 2000 | New York Yankees | New York Mets |
| 2006 | St. Louis Cardinals |
Detroit Tigers |
| 2007 | Boston Red Sox | Colorado Rockies |
| 2009 | New York Yankees | Philadelphia Phillies |
| 2014 | San Francisco Giants | Kansas City Royals |
| * Interleague play started in 1997. |
Of those six World Series previews, the only team to win both the regular-season series and the World Series was the 2000 Yankees (over the Mets). In each of the other five matchups, the team that lost the regular-season series ended up winning the World Series. The 2015 Royals-Cubs series is tied at a game apiece.
Yordano Ventura gets the start for the Royals tonight. Over the past two months, Ventura has racked up eight wins, more than all but four other starters in Major League Baseball.
PITCHERS WITH THE MOST WINS SINCE JULY 26, 2015
| Pitcher | Team | Wins |
| Jake Arrieta | Chicago Cubs | 10 |
| Zack Greinke | Los Angeles Dodgers | 9 |
| David Price | Detroit Tigers-Toronto Blue Jays |
9 |
| Yordano Ventura | Kansas City Royals | 8 |
| Joe Kelly | Boston Red Sox | 8 |
HIGHEST SEASON BATTING AVERAGE IN INTERLEAGUE GAMES*
| Player | Team | Batting average |
| Joe Randa | 1999 Kansas City Royals |
.508 |
| Ben Zobrist | 2015 Oakland A's-Kansas City Royals | .500 (21 for 42) |
| Hideki Matsui | 2003 New York Yankees | .493 |
| Joe Mauer | 2006 Minnesota Twins | .492 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 2007 Seattle Mariners | .486 |
| * Minimum 40 plate appearances |