Nobody was stopping LA in the World Series, but I can't shake the idea that it maybe should have been the Kansas City Royals in that spot instead of the Yankees. The sting of the team not performing at even their average level in a very winnable series will probably stick for awhile. But for me, it's also a good feeling knowing that next year will definitely go differently, and for the better.
I'm sure many folks here are also Chiefs supporters, and its easy to see a few parallels. But it does bring up the question – are the Royals trending toward the Chiefs growth model? Or are they going to be the Bengals?
Did the stars simply align for a moment or is this the new reality going forward?
Have you switched from hopeful to expectant?
18 comments
I agree wholeheartedly. Had quite the opportunity 1-1 with 2 games in KC and just couldn’t quite get it done. Baseball makes it so much harder for small market clubs to do anything for long periods of time. Wish more free agents wanted to come to KC.
I think we would have been swept by the dodgers and it would hurt way way more
All I can think is … we won the WS 9 years ago. 10 years ago we made it to the WS. But before that? It was 30 years of sometimes heartbreaking but mostly just bad management decisions and bad baseball. And before ‘85, it was 15+ years of crushed dreams.
So … I’m okay with a 30-game turn around from last year. I’m okay with carefully rebuilding our farm teams and picking up veterans as we need.
But, to be honest, I wanted it to be us this year and I really thought we were gonna pull it off.
Soon …
Based on recent seasons, my hopes were that we would be above .500 at the end of the season. I expected more disappointment.
This season exceeded both. I’m a grateful fan.
At the beginning of the season, I said I’d be ecstatic if the Royals finished above .500. I went to a fuckin’ playoff game at the K this year, so I’m out of my mind thrilled.
Yes, we lost that game, but I can see the org moving in the right direction, which gives me so much hope for the team for 2025 and beyond.
The playoffs are always just a crapshoot. Our bats went cold at the wrong time, and losing Vinnie to that freak injury made it so much worse. Even though he came back, I think it would have been better to get him back sooner to be more comfortable.
But that’s just baseball.
We went from 106 losses to winning a playoff series. I am ecstatic.
We obviously need to do some work on our roster to sustain this success, and we are clearly in a strong division so who knows if even a good Royals team would make the playoffs next year… but we’ve got some great pieces right now and it’s obvious we are on the upswing. We have a lot to be hopeful for, and thankfully much more to expect.
The Yankees weren’t all that great, but they were the class of the American League this year. We went out when we should have, IMO.
they just couldn’t put the ball into play that last buncha weeks
so cold at the worst time
pitching/fielding still good enough
i guarantee they would not have had the meltdown the NYY did
i’m frustrated at how it ended–that’s great feeling
this window remains open
is it spring yet?
Certainly not expectant. If we make the playoffs next year I’ll be elated. We are still a small market team with a low payroll and a bad minor league system. But it was a really fun ride this year.
Next year is the year.
1985 – 40th anniversary
2015 – 10th anniversary
2025 – seems logical
They absolutely need to get the guy some help in the lineup. Remember when they were batting insane numbers with runners in scoring position through much of the year? Yeah, that is not sustainable AT ALL. AS it showed towards the end of the season and in the playoffs. They need 2-3 good bats, with one of those being a stud.
There are no parallels between this Royals team and the Chiefs.
Chiefs = multiple HOFers. HC, DC in the argument for best all time, if not top 5 at their jobs all time.
Royals = one, maybe two (if Witt has a long, consistent career and stays).
Don’t get me wrong, Royals had a great season, but the stars aligned. We’ll be lucky that the pieces fit together the same next season.
I expect us to be competitive next season, which is the most I think is reasonable. Making a run in the playoffs means you had injury luck during the regular season and then putting together enough pitching and offense at the right time in the playoffs, which also takes some luck. The Central is going to be tough again next year but there’s no reason we can’t be in the mix.
From where we were to where we got to, God damn it felt good to watch the royals this season, we all know bobby baseball is the true mvp
odds for the Royals winning the WS are +4500. Put $5 on it today 😀
I’d call it tempered expectations. Maybe where the Royals were after 2014 or perhaps where the Chiefs were in the pre-Mahomes Andy era. I now expect to be in the playoff hunt and not much more, yet. I know we have the roster to make a run over the next few years.
I would like to see if they can keep a decent core around Bobby to keep things rolling. The failure to keep a ‘pen or get more starters around Salvy, Hoz, Cain, Gordon, and Moose still stings a lot. It is why I am so happy for Salvy right now. If KC can keep or improve this starting pitching rotation after the initial contracts are up, if KC can add or develop some additional bats and bullpen, then I will start having expectations.
I’ve been burned by hope too many times with the Royals to flip to expectations beyond not sucking (i.e. losing 90+ games a season).
I agree. The one thing that will always keep the knife close in that Yankee series is (I am an NJ Royals fan) the money the Mets, Yankees, and Dodgers pour into their teams. The Mets paid 165 million in absentee contracts, which is 64 million more than the Royals’ total payroll. I know teams have won with low-budgets, but our margin for error is a pinhole to those teams’ two-car garages. This year, (for me) hurt more than 2014. Madison Baumgarner was pitching on another plane of existence and he beat us. We gave it our best and came up 90 ft short. With the Yankee series it felt like every count was 0-2 before we stepped up to the plate. Chisem and Rodon didn’t help either. Last sour grape – I know Judge was terrible but that surprises me less that Stanton playing as well as he did. He couldn’t hit roadkill with a tractor-trailer this season and ended up having an October that could have resurrected his career.
As a Guardians fan, I feel you on the statement of the team not performing to their level. Watching almost every game all year, I saw what they could do and a lot of times our stars weren’t playing like stars and some things just were not clicking like they were during most of the season. I was hoping for a KC win over the Yankees in ALDS and would have loved to have faced you guys in ALCS instead. Not even saying cause I think we would have won but I would have just liked to see the matchup as I feel our teams our similar. But I hope you keep the hope. You have a great team and I think we will both be back here again battling for position in the PS. Good luck to you guys next year.