[1] The Royals had home field advantage for the series because of the AL's 6–3 victory in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

It was the 13th World Series in which home field advantage was awarded to the league that won the All-Star Game, a practice that was discontinued after the 2016 season.

[7] The Mets qualified for the postseason by winning the National League (NL) East, their sixth division title.

[8] The third-seeded Mets faced the #2 seed Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2015 NL Division Series, winning in five games.

In the 2015 NLCS, Daniel Murphy led the team by hitting home runs in each game of the four-game sweep of the fifth-seeded Chicago Cubs.

[14] The top-seeded Royals faced the #5 seed Houston Astros in the 2015 American League Division Series, winning in five games.

Though the Mets boasted four starting pitchers who could throw over 95 miles per hour (153 km/h)—Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom, and Steven Matz—the Royals had the best team batting average against pitches over that speed during the 2015 season.

[36] Eric Hosmer reduced the lead to 3–2 with a sacrifice fly, and set a new Royals' postseason run batted in (RBI) record in the process.

[37][38] A single by Moustakas tied the game at three, but in the top of the eighth, Wilmer Flores reached on an fielding error by Hosmer, allowing Juan Lagares to score the go-ahead run and give the Mets a 4–3 lead.

[42] In the bottom of the 11th inning, Granderson robbed the speedy Jarrod Dyson of a multi-base hit with a running, leaping catch that prevented what probably would have been a lead-off triple.

[47] The ceremonial first pitch was thrown out by Medal of Honor recipients Don Ballard, Charles Hagemeister, and Roger Donlon while country singer Sara Evans sang the national anthem.

Ben Zobrist's groundout moved the runners up and after Lorenzo Cain lined out to center, Eric Hosmer's two-run single put the Royals up 3–1.

Addison Reed relieved Niese and allowed a sacrifice fly to Paulo Orlando and RBI triple to Escobar to make it 7-1 Kansas City.

[53] The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Mike Piazza to catcher Kevin Plawecki while Billy Joel sang the national anthem.

[56] After a Syndergaard single, Granderson hit a two-run home run just over the right field wall in the third inning, and the Mets took a 4–3 lead.

[57] The Royals made a few uncharacteristic mistakes in this game, the first coming in the fourth inning when pitcher Yordano Ventura forgot to cover the base on a ground ball to the first baseman, and the second in the sixth inning when Royals pitcher Franklin Morales triple-clutched Granderson's ground ball, allowing all runners to be safe, which led to a 2-run single by Wright.

[58] In the fifth inning, Royals player Raúl A. Mondesí made his Major League Baseball debut, pinch hitting for Danny Duffy.

[64] In the eighth inning, after recording the first out, Tyler Clippard walked two consecutive batters to force Terry Collins to bring in Familia.

For Familia, it was his second blown save of the series, and second out of seven opportunities this postseason, though this one could be partly attributed to Murphy's error.

[70] New York City Fire Department firefighter Frank Pizarro sang the national anthem, Tony Bennett performed "America the Beautiful", and the first pitches were thrown by Cleon Jones, Mookie Wilson, and Darryl Strawberry.

After a groundout by Moustakas advanced Hosmer to third base with one out, Pérez hit a ground ball to third baseman David Wright.

Fox broadcast the series in the United States, with play-by-play announcer Joe Buck calling the action along with color analysts Harold Reynolds and Tom Verducci and field reporters Ken Rosenthal and Erin Andrews.

The pregame and postgame show featured host Kevin Burkhardt with analysts Frank Thomas, Raul Ibanez, Pete Rose, and Alex Rodriguez.

[86] ESPN Radio aired the series, with Dan Shulman on play-by-play, Aaron Boone handling color commentary, and Buster Olney serving as field reporter.

Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Chris Archer served as a guest commentator for selected innings in Games 1, 2 and 5.

[96] The Royals became the first team and in World Series history to start three pitchers—Yordano Ventura, Edinson Volquez, and Cuueto—born outside the United States.

The Mets qualified for the 2016 National League Wild Card Game after an 87-win season, but lost to the San Francisco Giants.

[103] In the 1989 film Back to the Future Part II, the Chicago Cubs are depicted as the 2015 World Series champions, defeating a fictional American League team from Miami, whose mascot is an alligator, in a five-game sweep ending on or before October 21.

Screenwriter Bob Gale, who co-wrote the script of Back to the Future Part II, originally intended it as a joke, saying "Being a baseball fan, I thought, 'OK, let's come up with one of the most unlikely scenarios we can think of'", referencing both the Cubs' long championship drought (at the time, having most recently won the 1908 World Series) and the lack (at the time) of any major-league franchise in Florida.

[104] In the actual 2015 postseason, the Cubs advanced to the National League Championship Series (NLCS), but were eliminated in four games by the New York Mets.