The Star did a nice job of showing each team’s records in the four major pro sports groups today…
Included were the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. And only one team had not been to the post season since 1985, nearly 30 years, guess who? The Royals. Nice. Hey, the Chiefs may not have won, but at least they got to the party.
While this year’s Royals still managed to lose 90 games, they did improve their win record an inch and finished in third. So yes, it was a bit better but not much.
The big reason for owning the fourth worst record in the American league; the failures of Eric Hosmer, Jeff Francoeur and Mke Moustakas.
None had any power or zip to speak of and none of them could even hit .250. Wow. And these were the young guys the Royals were counting on to be at least .500.
Clearly Hosmer being a BUST, was the major blow.
The team and many in baseball thought he was the next it guy. Instead he faded away to nowhere land. Mike was O.K. with 20 homers, but couldn’t hit in the clutch, and well, a .242 BA is nothing to brag about, is it?
Hosmer’s fall from grace was kinda a shocker and it came fast.
He never got going all season long, it was a year long slump. And our pitching is at best average with a 4.30 ERA. Saying average is being kind, but it may have been better than advertised considering the team just can’t hit much.
Billy Butler had a wasted year. He hit .313, had 107 RBI’s and 29 homers, but none of it mattered. Except to Billy. He’s a nice guy, he doesn’t scare anyone or so it seems. He’s a pleasant player, just not very exciting. Unfortunately, he was the Lone Ranger when it came to offense.
So where do we go from here?
The team has no ace pitcher and at best average hitting with little power and none in sight. Next year it’s possible they challenge for a .500 club. If that makes the fans happy, then that’s the pot of gold at the end of next year’s rainbow.
Like the Chiefs there just are no stars. This team has tried to improve through their farm system. Alex Gordon has become a solid player, Butler the same. But neither of them are stars. We have yet to find one pitcher that matters in the minors or anywhere else. I know we have the wounded Danny Duffey but please.
Well, we can dream and hope that maybe in the years to come things will get better.
How could they they get any worse?
It’s a nice stadium, fans do come out in decent numbers even though we have a poor product, so at least it’s family fun and entertainment. Like the man said, “Hey, do you want them to move away?”
I’m sure all of us would say NO.
I found the attendance this year interesting.
Most of the year due to the All Star Game ticket deals the team was well out in front of last year’s attendance. In the end not so much. It dropped off to nearly match the season before. In 2011 it was 1,724,370 this year it was 1,738,859. And it took the final game of the season to pass last year with a surprising 30,000 fans on hand.
Again, great numbers for a poor product and Kansas City fans deserve better, much better.
“Kansas City fans deserve better, much better.”
Agreed. I haven’t bought a ticket to a Royals game in over 10 years and will happily keep my streak in tact until this team finishes a year at .500 or better. I will not support this team until there is an appreciable better product on the field.
I think the word most fans would use to describe this year’s team is “disappointing”. The team was oversold going into the season and quickly failed to live up to expectations by losing all 10 games of the first homestand. The tone was set then and there. There is much talk of the need to bolster the rotation, which is clearly evident, but the team also lacks the necessary offensive punch to be a legitimate contender in the relatively weak AL Central. Billy Butler can’t carry the Boys in Blue alone. He’ll need some real “firepower” around him. Look for a fair amount of activity around the “hot stove” this winter.
Craig, I think this teams downfall was terrible starting pitching and a lack of patience at the plate, rather than just down seasons by Hoz, Moustakas, and Frenchy. Our batters always seem to be digging out of an 0-2 or 1-2 hole. That kills on-base percentage. Had the starting pitching even been average, the team could have easily won ten more games, even with the stats put up by the three players mentioned.
Plate discipline and starting pitching. Those have to be the Royals focus next year.
Agree with all of the above.
I was trumpeting the lack of starting pitching the moment Craig began talking this team up before the season. They were D.O.A. before the season began. Oh and congratulations to Eric Hosmer for his pathetic performance this year, which cost Kevin Seitzer his job.
Yes I did think KC had a chance to be decent BEFORE the season, in fact I even thought maybe the Chumps would compete for a wild card, BEFORE preseason…however its my job here to not be Mister down on everyone before they get a chance if they have something going on…both teams did, Hosmer, Mike and with the Royals maybe an average pitching staff helped out by a high scoring offense…well that didn’t happen and fast, which I noticed and before many said, “done” same with Chumps…they had a nice off season with Boss, Stanford, Hillis, and an ok draft, well that went bad fast in preseason so we said ‘done’ and fast…stayed the course with that with both afterwords…I think that was more than fair don’t you?