Only two teams in the MLB have a worse record than our 3-10 Kansas City Royals. That's quite the change from entering last season with that "one last ride" mentality - the heartfelt notion that the core could claw its way back to postseason play and make something memorable happen one more time. Fans knew the 2018 season would be different, and somewhat dismal in comparison. The start we're seeing has been disheartening, if not completely shocking.
The Royals began their season with a streak of awful weather and similarly awful on-the-field performance. A planned exhibition game on March 26 with our Triple-A affiliate Omaha Stormchasers never happened thanks to nasty weather. On the 29th, the Chicago White Sox tied an MLB record with six Opening Day home runs against KC at the Kauffman Stadium home opener. Our Royals then lost Game 2 of the season 4-3, despite entering the 8th inning with a two-run lead. Then, the final game of that series with Chicago was postponed due to cold weather. After heading to Michigan and losing the first two games with Detroit, the last game of that series was also postponed. So, because of cold weather and superfluous off-days, the Royals began their season playing two games in seven days, and only four games in 11 days. That is not baseball. That is basically the schedule of an NCAA basketball team during March Madness.
The Royals were surely thankful to play nine games straight, before yesterday's frigid weather in KC and today's damaged dome in Toronto led to two more postponed games. Did the Royals' get into a rhythm and begin playing good ball once they got to play a more baseball-like schedule? Nope! Their 1-3 record has now plummeted to 3-10, and they've lost five straight. Thanks to all the losing and missed games, KC fans will go more than a full week without seeing a win. It's still very early, and the reasons/excuses for KC's struggles are numerous, but hope for this team already seems hard to find.
The starting rotation stands out so far as the most surprising and uplifting element of the club. KC's combined ERA for starters ranks 6th in baseball, behind the St. Louis Cardinals and four 2017 playoff teams. Finding many other statistical bright spots isn't easy. Moose has been solid enough to perhaps gift KC with a worthwhile prospect via trade before the All Star Break. Uhh, what else? Alcides Escobar and Jorge Soler are tied for second on the team with five walks each. That's something, right?
The obvious silver lining here is that each loss makes the next Royals draft pick higher, so for fans of tanking, this bad start is actually good...if we can forget about the millions of dollars KC spent to not tank this season. If nothing else, take pleasure in the novelty of the differing fan philosophies in Kansas City right now. It sure does alter the fan-base when some fans now have opposed goals for their club. I already miss the times when consistently winning was realistic enough to keep all Royals fans hoping for the same outcome. It seems the new, darker era of baseball in KC will resist such simplicity.
Doug LaCerte writes about the Royals and the Chiefs while neglecting his Facebook page and Twitter feed @DLaC67 in similar fashion.
