Some Royals Ramblings

I gotta brag on my team while I can.

Here at Powder Blue Nostalgia, I generally stick to baseball history. However, I’m allowing myself to comment on current events these days, and I promised I wouldn’t be annoying about it unless the Royals were good. Well, guess what? It looks like the Royals might actually be good.

As of now, they sit at 17-10, two games back of the Guardians, who are somehow the best team in baseball. Both teams have definitely made hay against bad teams — thank you, White Sox!* — but Cleveland’s schedule has been really favorable. To their credit, they did just win a series against Boston and they start a series in Atlanta tonight, so we should have a better feel for how good they really are in the near future.

*Seriously, what the hell happened to the White Sox? Just a few years ago, it looked like they might be building something special, but it has derailed spectacularly. Condolences to any Southsiders reading out there, and thanks to Chris Getz, you’re getting the true Royals experience now. You can keep it.

But I don’t really want to talk about Cleveland or Chicago. I want to talk about Kansas City. For the first time in seven years, the Royals are worth talking about, and I’m not going to waste the opportunity.

After taking three of four from a good Blue Jays team, which featured an epic crybaby performance in the rain by Jays manager John Schneider yesterday, I just watched them* cling to a 1-0 lead through eight innings against the Tigers, before busting it wide-open in the ninth. The Royals scored two runs on HBPs with the bases loaded, and then Bobby Witt Jr. tripled in two runs on what I really thought was going to be an inside-the-parker. I didn’t even feel nervous when Will Smith came in to close it out with an 8-0 lead.

*Did I watch this game at work with my phone perched in front of my computer so I could pretend I was working, even though I was incredibly distracted? I’d rather not say.

This was a big win against one of the teams I expect to compete against the Royals in the AL Central this year, but I’m not getting too far ahead of myself yet. I’ve seen many promising starts sputter out, and it’s not even May yet. There’s a lot of baseball left to be played. But it sure beats a terrible start (just ask Astros fans), and this team does feel different.

It’s been so long since I’ve seen it, but I’d almost forgotten how much of a difference quality starting pitching can make. So far, the acquisitions of Lugo and Wacha have paid dividends, Cole Ragans continues to look like an ace, we’re getting the good Brady Singer, and even Alec Marsh has been strong in the five spot. And after a rough first week of the season, the bullpen has come together, headlined by new closer James McArthur. The Royals have had several great closers in their history, and while it’s way too early to add his name to that list, it’s not too soon to get excited about that possibility.

Perhaps most encouraging is that the offense still hasn’t clicked at its fullest potential. That might seem counterintuitive, but the Royals have found ways to win even without a consistent offensive output. The lineup, outside of Salvador Perez and Witt (though even he’s been battling a minor slump), has been very hit-and-miss (no pun intended). Garcia, Melendez, and Velasquez have had hot and cold streaks already, often not in unison. It took a while for Vinnie Pasquantino to get his timing back, but I was never really worried about him, and he seems to have found his stride.

I’m not going to wade deep into the analytics (there are better sites for that), but I have to think they’ll eventually put together a more complete, consistent performance at the plate as a team. And if that happens to coincide with a slight regression in pitching, which has to be expected, so be it. They can pick each other up. That’s how teams win.

I don’t know how many games they’ll ultimately win. What I’m not worried about is the bottom falling out, which is a strange place to be as a Royals fan. Kansas City has professional batters at every spot in the regular lineup (even if many of them aren’t high-end pro bats), and they have pitchers who belong on an MLB mound on the bump every day. That hasn’t always been the case. I’m not sure if they have the depth to maintain this for an entire season* — injuries always happen, and Marsh went on the IL this week — but I don’t expect them to crater.

*They’re currently on a 102-win pace. That would be a 46-game improvement over last season’s 106 losses.

Whether that means they’ll make the playoffs, or at least bring meaningful September baseball back to Kansas City, or just get back to respectability, I have no idea. My advice for even casual Royals fans is don’t wait around to find out. Enjoy the ride now, and don’t worry too much about the end point.

That’s what I’m going to do. Witt is one of the most exciting players in all of baseball, and even people outside KC are starting to catch on. Salvy is unreal and superhuman. Ragans’ stuff is ridiculous. And Vinnie P. is set to break out. For the record, I’m picking him to make his first All-Star Game this summer. In fact, I expect there will be multiple Royals in the All-Star Game, and when’s the last time you could say that?

Look, the 2023 season nearly broke me as a Royals fan. I’ve been rooting for this franchise for nearly forty years, so I’m no stranger to bad baseball. But last year was a new low. Not only were they terrible, they were boring and directionless and soul-sucking. If not for Witt, I might have given up the ghost.

The 2024 Royals are not that. Regardless of where they end up in the final standings, this a fun team to watch. Like any team, I’m sure they’ll have some losing streaks and rough patches, but there’s going to be a lot of entertaining baseball played out at the K this summer, and quite a bit of it will even come from our team!

You can’t ask for more than that. Wait, actually, that’s about the least you can ask. But it’s a start, and this team feels like it can exceed expectations. If you’re a Royals fan, live it up while you can. And if you’re not a Royals fan, I hope your team is at least interesting to watch. If you’re a White Sox, A’s, Marlins, or Rockies fan, you have my sympathies. I’ve been there. And if you’re an Astros fan, just remember no one feels sorry for you. You’ve won two trophies in the last six years. You’ll be fine.

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Thanks for reading Powder Blue Nostalgia. Share your thoughts on the first month of the 2024 season in the comments, whether they’re Royals-related or not. And while you’re here, why not check out my last post and subscribe for free?