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" The baseball world spent the better part of the last 30 years laughing at the Royals and Mets. Which may explain the celebrity enthusiasm surrounding them; the two MLB teams have attracted pitching staffs worth of comedians, and\u00A0considerably more than their respective rivals, the Yankees and Cardinals. But while funnymen have been OK rooting for the so-called joke teams, expectations were upended in 2015. The Royals and Mets will face off in the World Series beginning Tuesday in Kansas City. The Royals haven&amp;#039;t won a championship since 1985. The year after that, the Mets won their last. If you\u00A0ever wondered whether\u00A0famous people were just like us, watch them root in\u00A0the stands of\u00A0ball games. Which name celebrities side with your team? Who&amp;#039;s giving it their all this World Series? We matched up the most notable Mets and Royals fans, pit them against each other, and picked the Hollywood-approved winner. &amp;#039;Tis the season for competition:\u00A0 Game 1  Matchup: Jimmy Kimmel (Mets) vs. Eric Stonestreet (Royals) Comedy chops: Fourteen years as the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! vs. three Emmy nominations for the role of Cameron Tucker on Modern Family. Kimmel&amp;#039;s Cred: The Brooklyn native threw out the first pitch before Game 2 of the NLCS at Citi Field, and had members of the NL Champion Mets on his show later in the week.\u00A0 Stonestreet&amp;#039;s Cred: Stonestreet and Kimmel bet on the Series on Kimmel Live! This week\u2014the loser must stand in a bounce house for a minute while the winner fires paintballs at him. The Kansas City native wore Royals blue on national television, while Kimmel went neutral in his standard suit and tie.\u00A0 Verdict:\u00A0 Kimmel hit the Mets with tough questions on his show, asking when they&amp;#039;re going to retaliate against Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley for the takeout slide that broke New York shortstop Ruben Tejada&amp;#039;s leg during the NLDS. &amp;quot;You know what would be great?&amp;quot; Kimmel said. &amp;quot;Maybe in the offseason we can all get together and do this: Wait for him to come out of his house and nail him.&amp;quot; Target practice will start on Stonestreet after the Mets win Kimmel his bet.\u00A0 Winner: Mets Game 2  Matchup: Jerry Seinfeld (Mets) vs. Rob Riggle (Royals) Comedy chops: Creator and star of the best sitcom of all time vs. former Daily Show correspondent and Fox NFL Sunday&amp;#039;s impersonation extraordinaire. Seinfeld&amp;#039;s Cred: The Long Island native occasionally visits Mets announcers in the broadcast booth, tweets at star outfielder Yoenis Cespedes and, of course, wrote Keith Hernandez into two of Seinfield&amp;#039;s greatest episodes.\u00A0 Riggle&amp;#039;s Cred: Riggle grew up in Overland Park, Kansas and graduated from the University of Kansas. At age 15, he was in the outfield bleachers during Game 6 of the 1985 World Series, when the Royals rode umpire Don Denkinger&amp;#039;s infamous missed call at first base towards their only championship. Riggle returned to Kaufman Stadium in 2013, when he helped anchor a charity campaign that raised 625,000 for a local cancer hospital.\u00A0 Verdict:\u00A0 It&amp;#039;s hard to vote against a guy that raises that kind of money for that kind of research. But Seinfeld is an institution in Queens. And that was one magic loogie. Winner: Mets Game 3  Matchup: Kevin James (Mets) vs. Paul Rudd (Royals) Comedy chops: The King of Queens vs. Judd Apatow handyman. James&amp;#039; Claim: James named his first daughter &amp;quot;Shea,&amp;quot; after the Mets&amp;#039; old stadium. He appears on the new stadium&amp;#039;s jumbotron and took batting practice on the field in April.\u00A0 Rudd&amp;#039;s Claim: The comedy veteran moved to Kansas City when he was 10 and suffered for decades after the glory of 1985. When Kansas City broke its 29-year playoff drought last year, Rudd made himself visible every step of the way. He even offered to host a keg party at his mother&amp;#039;s house if the Royals won the World Series. They came 90 feet away. Verdict: After coming so close last year, you better believe Rudd will throw that party if the Royals finish the deal this season. He may even drop the $5 cover. Hard to argue with that.\u00A0 Winner: Royals Game 4  Matchup: Bill Maher (Mets) vs. David Koechner (Royals) Comedy chops: More than 35 years in comedy, including 13 as host of HBO&amp;#039;s Real Time vs. the immortals Champ Kind and Todd Packer. Claim to Royals Fan Fame: Koechner was born in Tipton, Missouri, and attended the University of Missouri, where one has to deal with way too many Cardinals fans. Now, Koechner calls into sports radio shows to analyze his favorite team as Champ Kind.\u00A0 Claim to Mets fan fame: Maher owns a minority share of the team and predicted their World Series appearance in an April interview with Playboy.\u00A0 Verdict: Whammy!! Koechner loves the Royals as much as Champ Kind loves Ron Burgundy. A true upset. Winner: Royals Game 5  Matchup: Jim Breuer (Mets) vs. Preston Lacy (Royals) Comedy chops: Saturday Night Live and Half Baked alum vs. Jackass big man. Claim to Mets fan fame: Breuer brought his spastic routine to MLB Network&amp;#039;s studios early in the season, when he started making video recaps for every Mets win. By the time New York clinched the pennant, the video celebrations turned manic. Side note: He also does a mean Joe Pesci impression.\u00A0 Claim to Royals fans: When he&amp;#039;s not taking footballs to the face, Lacy is tweeting insults to Royals&amp;#039; opponents.\u00A0 Verdict: Watch that Joe Pesci impression.\u00A0 Winner: Mets Game 6  Matchup: Chris Rock (Mets) vs. Jason Sudeikis (Royals) Comedy chops: One of stand-up comedy&amp;#039;s all-time greats vs. Saturday Night Live standout. Claim to Mets fan fame: Rock watches games from a Citi Field suite with Seinfeld and, like any good celebrity fan, has complained about the Mets on Letterman. He recently took his baseball fandom to deliver a powerful message on HBO&amp;#039;s Real Sports with Bryan Gumbel. Claim to Royals fame: Sudeikis descended on Kaufman Stadium for last year&amp;#039;s playoff run, when this picture surfaced. Well played, dude. \u00A0 Verdict: Kissing Olivia Wilde is cool. Really cool. But Rock once called rooting for the Yankees &amp;quot;like rooting for Steve Jobs to win the lotto or something.&amp;quot; That sentiment goes a long way in Queens. Winner: Mets The Mets win in six games. And they didn&amp;#039;t even pitch Jon Stewart. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/a39189/comedian-mets-royals-fans-world-series/>