When Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez popped out to San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval to end the 2014 World Series, it symbolized the clock striking midnight for the cinderella Royals. After not making the playoffs since 1985 and enduring 20 losing seasons from 1986-2013, the Royals got hot coming down the stretch last season to earn a wild card spot in the American League. The Royals would win their first eight games of the postseason to earn the AL Pennant and in the process they became the feel good story of Major League Baseball as their run to the World Series captivated plenty of people. But in the Fall Classic, Giants starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner was simply too much for the Royals lineup to handle. And when the Giants celebrated their third World Series Championship in five year last fall, some of the Royals players watched on from their dugout at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City and used San Francisco’s victory celebration as motivation for themselves heading into 2015.
This MLB season began with the Royals showing no signs of a World Series hangover as they won their first seven games of the year. The Royals have been in first place in the American League Central for the majority of the season and they also currently possess the best record in the AL. Where the Royals were MLB’s feel good story of 2014, they are becoming a veteran team that is now expected to win.
Speed, timely hitting, and quality pitching is what got Kansas City to the dance last year and under manager Royals Ned Yost, that is once again the formula for their success this season.
The Royals have only hit 67 home runs this season which is 14th in the American League, but they are third in hits (803), fifth in triples (21), and sixth in stolen bases (51). The Royals have also been aided by a solid starting pitching staff and an even better bullpen. After losing starting pitcher James Shields in free agency to the San Diego Padres, the Royals have lucked out with veteran starting pitchers Chris Young and Edinson Volquez who have combined to win 15 games so far this season. But the Royals bullpen which is led by relief pitcher Greg Holland and his 19 saves, has six players including Holland that are currently sporting an earned run average under 3.00 as they dare opponents to score on them.
The Royals success is not a fluke and they’ve gone on to gain immense popularity as they sent seven players along with Yost to the MLB All-Star Game this past Tuesday. And as the second half of the MLB season is set to kick off today when the Royals face the Chicago White Sox in a doubleheader, they are in a position to be a buyer as opposed to a seller before the trade deadline which is on July 31 as this team has the potential to win the World Series this fall.
The Royals could use some more pop in their lineup, but it isn’t a necessity due to the fact that there is plenty of cohesion in this lineup which is something that team general manager Dayton Moore may not want to mess with. And as solid as the Royals bullpen has been, their starting rotation could use another arm. Three names that will be thrown around at the trade deadline are Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Scott Kazmir, Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Johnny Cueto, and Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels. A small market team such as the Royals wont be willing to take on the large contract of Hamels which will more than likely eliminate him from their plans. Cueto and Kazmir are set to be unrestricted free agents after this season, but would the Royals and Moore be willing to take a bite on a rental; especially on Cueton who’ll be looking for a big payday like Shields was last winter?
The Royals currently have a 4.5-game lead over the Minnesota Twins for first place in the AL Central and it is a position that I don’t see Kansas City relinquishing this year which means that they should once again be postseason bound. Anything can happen in the month of October on the baseball diamond which makes it so exciting and that is something that the Royals experienced first hand last year. Sometimes rolling the dice at the MLB trade deadline could be the difference in a team such as the Royals hoisting the World Series Trophy as opposed to taking another team’s celebration all in from their dugout. And as good as good as the Royals run to the 2014 World Series was, they don’t want a repeat of what happened last October in the Fall Classic.
Source: Baseball-reference.com
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