A 'Royal' Let-Down

In 2010, the Kansas City Royals were an after-thought. They finished the season 67-95. A full 27 games back from first place. In 2011, after the acquisition of outfielder Lorenzo Cain, along with rookies Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas taking the field, the organization began slowly improving each year. The 2011 season resulted in a 71-91 record, the ’12 season a 72-90. 2013 produced the teams first positive record since 2003 going 86-76 but missing the playoffs. The following year, in 2014, for the first time in 29 years, the Royals made the playoffs after going 89-73 finishing just one game out of first place making a mythical run through the playoffs, winning the wild card, and sweeping both the divisional and conference championship rounds. The Royals lost the World Series that year to the San Francisco Giants, four games to three.

After Putting the league on notice in 2014, the Royals were hungry come the 2015 season. They entered the playoffs in first place, with a 95-67 record. After beating the Astros in the divisional round three games to two, and the Blue Jays in the conference championship four games to two, they were set to square off against the red hot New York Mets in the Fall Classic. The Mets who also entered the playoffs in first place with a record of 90-72 fielded a team who was carried through the playoffs by the incredible hitting of Daniel Murphy, and the efforts of their pitching staff of young flamethrowers in Matt Harvey, Jacob DeGrom, and Noah Syndergaard. It was a match-up fans were thrilled about, the hottest pitching staff in baseball in the Mets versus the hottest offense of the playoffs in the Royals. Kansas City proved to be the better team, as they handled New York in just five games, winning the series four games to one. After finally capturing that World Series Championship, and keeping their fairly young core of players, it appeared that the Royals would be a name associated with the word contender for the coming seasons.

Unfortunately however, this was not the case. In 2016 the Royals took a step backwards finishing 81-81. After a season ending injury to star third baseman Mike ‘The Moose’ Moustakas, not even thirty games into the season, the Royals simply seemed to lose their way. The team posted just a .261 batting AVG and a .421 team ERA. The team went from scoring 724 runs in 2015 to 675 in ’16. Was it a lack of offense or a drop in pitching that resulted in the Royals decline in success? Perhaps it was a combination of many things, no-matter what the problem was, fans and analysts around the league now sit and speculate how the team will bounce back come 2017. Will the return of the Moose bring back the spark that Kansas City seemed to lose in 2016, or will the team continue to struggle to outscore opponents? With many big names left in free agency this off-season, it will be interesting to see if the Royals try to shake things up or if they have faith in their current roster to return to its winning ways in the upcoming season.

By: Jonathan Abbott

December 15, 2017