Those of us rooting for a long World Series got their wish on Friday night. The New York Mets rode a David Wright break-out at the plate and dominant pitching in the middle and late innings to a 9-3 win over the Kansas City Royals in Game 3.

We witnessed hysteria and an MLB milestone.

At the very least, Halloween will bring us crazy crowd shots of a festive fanbase. But here are the other treats to look forward to.

Historically Speaking…

• Considering the depth of their bullpen and resiliency of their lineup, the Royals don’t often suffer a loss as lopsided as Friday night’s. Even throughout nine postseason bids in the franchise’s history, blow-outs like that have been few and far between. The Mets would need to outscore them by seven runs in a game to equal the pain K.C. suffered in the 1984 ALCS and 2014 World Series.

• There’s still time for Daniel Murphy to rediscover his power stroke, but for now, the arc of his postseason is closer to 2008 Melvin Upton Jr. than 2011 David Freese. Murphy is seeking to join Freese, Alex Rodriguez (2009) and Benito Santiago (2002) as the only players to drive in at least five runs in three consecutive series within the same postseason.

• Steven Matz gets the Game 4 starting assignment for the Mets. Citi Field is just a few miles away from where he was raised on Long Island, and the expectation is that a few (hundred) of his friends and family members will be in attendance. Jamie Moyer understands what that feels like—prior to the Matz, he was the most recent example of a pitcher starting a World Series game in his native state as a member of the home team (Philadelphia Phillies, 2008). Here’s a fun contrast between the two: Moyer was more than 24 years into his pro career when he got that opportunity; Matz is only 24 years into his life.

• In terms of both result and margin victory/defeat, the past three games have been an exact reenactment of the Mets’ experience in the 1986 World Series. Wouldn’t it be fitting if the “spookiness” continued through Halloween? To keep that going, the Mets would need to beat the Royals by four runs in Game 4 en route to tying the series.

What to Watch for

• A key to New York’s great offensive performance in Game 3, as ESPN’s Buster Olney points out, was the damage done against Yordano Ventura’s mid-90s fastball. All of their extra-base hits came off that pitch and that pitcher. But the Mets will get a much different look on Saturday with soft-tossing Chris Young, whose stuff rarely even touches 90 mph (and that’s usually out of the bullpen). Although Young surrenders plenty of fly balls, he’s difficult to square up. Postseason and regular season combined, there have been only six extra-base hits in the past 40 innings against him (a .292 slugging percentage).

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  Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.

  Manager Terry Collins made the somewhat surprising decision to use closer Jeurys Familia for the 9th inning, despite a sizable six-run lead. The rationale is more obvious, however, when considering Familia’s career splits. There has been no drop in quality when he pitches on back-to-back days (.188/.267/.286 against, 1.79 ERA). Meanwhile, his most memorable gaffes—the July 30 blown save to the San Diego Padres, the game-tying home run allowed to Alex Gordon in Game 1 of this series—came with Familia rested for at least three days. Collins understandably doesn’t want the right-hander rusty for possible high-leverage situations in Games 4 or 5.