Mets run their way into the World Series

We all know the Mets lacked speed up and down their roster. In fact, the Mets were second-to-last in the majors in stolen bases during the regular season with 51. Dee Gordon swiped 58 bases on his own while the Mets' leading base stealer was Curtis Granderson with 11. However, the Mets have burned up the basepaths—comparatively speaking—during the postseason, which has paid huge dividends in their run to the World Series.

Through nine postseason games, the Mets have stolen nine bases. The team stole all of four bases in the final month of the regular season. Amazingly, the Mets have swiped third base six times in the playoffs while doing so just five times during the whole season.

The stolen base frenzy really started when who else but Daniel Murphy stole third on a Lucas Duda walk to catch the Los Angeles Dodgers napping in Game 5 of the NLDS. Murphy was later able to score on a Travis d'Arnaud sacrifice fly that tied the game up 2-2. The second basemen is notorious for doing things on the baseball field that will leave Mets fans scratching their heads, but he saw the Dodgers were in a defensive shift with Duda batting and no one was covering third base. He used the shift to his advantage. The Mets would go on to win that decisive Game 5 on Murphy's home run.

Then in the sixth inning of a tie ballgame in Game 3 of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs, Yoenis Cespedes stole third with d'Arnaud at the plate. That stolen base proved to be crucial as Cespedes was able to scamper home with the go-ahead run on a wild pitch from Trevor Cahill with Michael Conforto batting. That's a lead the Mets never relinquished with a 5-2 victory.

After Game 3 of the NLCS, Collins told reporters: "We came in knowing that we had to be a little aggressive on the bases, something we don't normally do. But we told the guys, 'Look, if you get on and think you can go, go.'" During the regular season, the Cubs allowed 137 stolen bases and their catchers threw out 22 percent of runners. It also helps that the Cubs have Jon Lester who is among the worst in the league at keeping runners close.

The Kansas City Royals will not be as easy to steal on as the Cubs or Dodgers. The Royals have one of the best catchers in all of baseball in Salvador Perez. During the regular season, Perez threw out 31 percent of base runners and the Royals allowed just 75 stolen bases all year.