You know what the best part of this summer in Kansas City was supposed to be? The Rolling Stones coming to Arrowhead on June 26. (Quick shout out to Wayne Schmidt for anteing up for the tickets. Love you, Dad!) The Stones are the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time, and this most assuredly will be their last stop in the great state of Missouri.
However, at the time of the writing of this piece, the Kansas City Royals are 7-0 after beating the crap out of the Minnesota Twins, 12-3, on Monday. That 7-0 record is the best in baseball. Dating back to last year, the Royals are 19-4 in their last 23 games. They haven’t lost to an American League team since Sept. 27, 2014. They are the first AL team ever to start 7-0 while winning all of their games by at least two runs.
In short, the Royals have started this year hotter than a Marisa Miller photo shoot. Clearly, the momentum from last year’s playoff run (and possibly the sting of that Game 7 loss) has carried over to this year’s Royals team, despite the losses of Billy Butler (perhaps this was more addition by subtraction), James Shields, and Nori Aoki.
The additions of Alex Rios and Kendry Morales have paid off to this point, and if they continue to hit, this Royals lineup could be one of the best in (at least) recent Royals history.
I’m as big a Cardinals fan as the next generic St. Louisan that goes to Mizzou and I’d like to encourage my fellow Cardinals fans to adopt the Royals as their second favorite team.
I’ve watched the majority of the Royals’ first seven games this season, and they couldn’t have a higher likability rating in my opinion. My biggest takeaway has without a doubt been the confidence these guys play with. You can see it in how they take the field, the way they take their at-bats and even in the way they interact in the dugouts.
Yes, it is very, very early in the season, and the last time the Royals started this hot (9-0 in 2003), they ended up 83-79 and in third place in the AL Central, missing the playoffs. These Royals are different than the Royals of years’ past, though. These Royals have established a winning culture in Kansas City that hasn’t been seen since Brett and the boys in the ’80s. They are coming off of back-to-back winning seasons and one of the most memorable playoff runs in MLB history.
Adding even more fuel to the fire is how many experts predicted the Royals to finish no better than third in the Central. This organization has been dealing with doubters and haters since 1985. At this point, all that doubters can do is to motivate these Royals to be even better than they were last year. The 2014 World Series loss was not what the Royals wanted. The Royals may find, though, that you can’t always get what you want; sometimes you get what you need.