FanPost

The Story of the 2015 Kansas City Royals: Part 4 - 2015 Regular Season I

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

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Continuing on with the (mostly) complete multimedia story of your 2015 World Champion Kansas City Royals, here's the index for all parts:

Offseason and Spring Training

During the winter, Yost wondered when he would get over the defeat. Maybe it will take a week, he thought. Maybe two weeks. Maybe a month. The length of time kept expanding until he realized the truth.

"It never got better," Yost said. "When you come that close, and you have to go all the way back and start again? You’re right there. I mean, you’re right there. You can touch it. And then all of a sudden, it’s light years away again. I don’t think that ever goes away, that feeling that, man, you’re there, and you couldn’t quite accomplish it." -Andy McCullough

After the heartbreaking loss in the World Series, the front office set to building the 2015 Kansas City Royals. Gone were catalyst James Shields, long tenured and fan favorite Billy Butler, baseball in the groiner (seriously, look at the URL!) and quality right fielder Nori Aoki. Replacing them would be Edinson Volquez, Kendrys Morales, and Alex Rios. They also signed a pair of Tommy John recoverers: Luke Hochevar would return and Kris Medlen was brought into the fold. Reactions were not, ahem, kind from Rany's " Moving on to their four primary acquisitions, it’s probably best to work in reverse chronological order, because that means we’ll go from most sensible move to most inexplicable one" to Jeff Sullivan's not-alogether-condeming piece on Fangraphs entitled "The Royals Spending Poorly Wisely" to to David Schoenfield's "least stimulating" offseason. The Royals were pinning their hopes on two bounceback candidates and an erratic pitcher from baseball's Island of Mistfit Toys (beware: spoilers in link), the Pirates. Speaking of scrap heaps, they also grabbed Chris Young, Franklin Morales, Joe Blanton, and Ryan Madson. All were under $1M, the last three were on minor league contracts, and the latter two didn't even pitch in MLB in 2014.

Needless to say, the projection systems were not kind. Vegas had the Royals at 83 wins, Fangraphs at 79, and Baseball Prospectus's PECOTA had Kansas City in the halcyon days of 2012 with a woeful 72. Those pop-tart eating haters and HO-scaled misanthropes at RR said "the Royals are a team that if you squint, and things go just right, can make it back to the playoffs in 2015".

As for Spring Training itself, sadly Will Ferrell did not suit up for a Royals game but a swarm of bees took to the field. They (the Royals, not the bees) started 6-0 and finished Spring Training at 20-10. The last two wins came against the Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston (I wonder if we'll see them again). Mike Moustakas had another scorching spring after retooling his swing to beat the shift. The only real roster spot competition was for the 25th man and final reliever: it went to Ryan Madson over Brian Flynn.

(Ed note: if you're tired of reading my writing, you can go to the official RR regular season in review. Minda Haas wrote the first half while Matt Jackson wrote the second half and I'm totally not cribbing notes from both)

7-0!

The season began with fireworks. And not just those launched before the game when the Royals got their 2014 AL Championship rings or when the banner was raised. It didn't take long for Moose's new approach to pay dividends as, in the 4th, he hit his first career Oppomoose home run. One pitch later, Jeff Samardzija threw up and in, hitting Lorenzo Cain. Tempers flared but nothing came of it on Opening Day. Yordano Ventura had mostly been breezing along through 6 but gave up a leadoff home run in the 7th to Jose Abreu to end the shutout. During a pitch to the next batter, he collapsed and Royals fandom held its collective breath as their ace writhed on the ground in pain. It turned out to only be thumb cramps but everyone was reminded just how precariously the team's playoff hopes rested on the health of key players. Alex Rios also added a 3-run home run in his Royals debut and they cruised to a 10-1 win.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v63574083

The Royals swept the White Sox and went to Anaheim, sweeping last year's ALDS foe to start 6-0. In the Sunday game, with the Royals winning 7-1, Ventura threw one high and tight on Trout and stared him down when he sent a line drive back up the middle a couple of pitches later. Ventura was covering home when Trout came around to score and they exchanged words. Benches cleared for some traditional baseball nonsense. The following day, the Royals ruined the Twins home opener 12-3 and became the last unbeaten team in the league. They also finally had a one game lead in the division as the Tigers also started 6-0. Unfortunately, Alex Rios, with his first week .809 OPS, was hit by a pitch and the resulting broken hand would cause him to miss nearly 2 months.

For many fans, the first week picked them up right where the 2014 postseason left off. That energy fed the fans and the team, but would it be sustainable across an entire season?

Warm Fuzzies

The Twins took 2 of 3 from the Royals to jump start their season which began at 1-6. The Royals came back home to face Oakland who were last in Kansas City on the devastating end of the Royals amazing Wild Card rally. And that led to this emotional moment.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v77635983

Wait? That wasn't the one you expected? The happy sentimental tone wouldn't last. In the 1st game, a Royals win, Brett Lawrie went for Escobar's leg. As Ryan would say on the broadcast, as the double play was not really in order on the slow, deflected grounder: "There really is no place for a takeout side there unless you're trying to injure the infielder". Escobar was taken off the field and the Royals were really feeling like they had a target on their back between this injury, Rios's injury, and the fact that they led the league in getting hit by pitches. There was even some weirdness after the game where Lawrie claimed to have texted an apology to Escobar but Escobar insisted he never got it.

In game 2, Ventura fell apart in the 4th inning. After Josh Reddick's 3-run homer gave the A's a 5-0 lead, Ventura plunked Brett Lawrie to the delight of the Kauffman crowd. Despite no umpire warnings earlier in the game, Ventura was ejected immediately and his night was over prematurely, yet again. The Royals newly minted ace, who had signed a contract extension in the offseason, went only 15 IP in his first 3 starts with a 4.80 ERA and had yet to leave a game under his own power. In game 3, well, this happened:

http://m.mlb.com/video/v81408683

In the season's first 10 games, Royals players were hit by a whopping 14 pitches. None of those pitchers were ejected, including Oakland's Scott Kazmir, who spiked a fastball right to the foot of Lorenzo Cain in the first inning Sunday. The benches were warned, and home plate umpire Greg Gibson quickly ejected both Royals manager Ned Yost and pitching coach Greg Eiland. -Ryan Landreth

The A's led 2-0 on a pair of RBI singles by Ben Zobirst, a handy guy to have on a team (hmm). In the 8th, trailing 2-1, the first Kelvin Herrera pitch to Lawrie went inside. The second went behind him and he was ejected, as was Alcides Escobar on the bench and acting manager Don Wakamatsu. With Yost, Eiland, and Wakamatsu out, I'm not even sure who was next in the Royals managerial line of succession. Herrera pointed to his said and said "think about it", which Royals fans interpreted to mean "why would I throw at you in a 1 run game" and everyone who wanted the Royals-as-bad-boys narrative read as "Beware: I can throw 100 at your head". In the bottom of the 8th, the Royals rallied with Cain doubling home the tying run and Morales bouncing a 2-run double off the wall to give the emotional Royals and emotional crowd a 4-2 win. After the game, we were all, in increasing order of credibility and seriousness, informed Kelvin Herrera was a disgrace to baseball as was Brett Lawrie and, of course, baseballs. The Royals, despite a hot 9-3 start were 1 game behind the 10-2 Tigers.

Things were still not over. On Thursday, in Chicago, the dugouts chriped at each other all night. In the 7th, Yordano Ventura said something to Adam Eaton on a ground out back to the pitcher and benches cleared yet again. It appears to be standard baseball non-fisticuffs until Samardzija and Cain decided to reopen discussions about Opening Day. Punches were thrown and Samardzjia and Sale were ejected for the White Sox while Ventura, Cain, and Volquez for the Royals. The game went extras, a season first, and the Royals won 3-2 in the 13th on an Eric Hosmer RBI double. After the game, Hosmer talked about taking control back in the dugout and this was the last major incident in the season.

From the A's debacle on Sunday, Herrera was suspended 5 games and Ventura fined. For the White Sox fight, Ventura was suspended 7 games, Volquez 5, Cain 2, and Herrera 2 more. Greg Holland was on the DL with a pectoral strain. Alex Rios was out, Infante was day-to-day, and Escobar was playing injured and would be hurt by the end of the month. The Royals appeared to be running out of players. But Christian Colon would step up at MI, Jarrod Dyson in the OF, and Ryan Madson and Franklin Morales in the pen.

May Swoon and the Division Race?

Coming into the final day of April, the Royals were 14-7, a half game behind Detroit and the Tigers were in Kansas City for a crucial early season series. The Royals won the first game behind Danny Duffy throwing 7 innings of 1 run, 7K baseball. In the second win, Chris Young, starting for the suspended Volquez, no-hit the Tigers through 5 and Madson for another 2 before Herrera finally gave up a hit in the 8th. The Royals lost the other half of the series to David Price and Anibal Sanchez but it appeared they would not be going 6-13 against the Tigers like last year. Also, the three weekend games against Detroit were all sellouts with over 38K in attendance.

May had not been kind to the Royals in 2013 and 2014 as they were a combined 20-37. And while they did not play at their scorching .682 for April, they went 14-12 and had a winning month in 2015. The next week, a walkoff loss in Detroit dropped them to the magical 18-11. However, they won the other two games of the series to push their record to 20-11 and push the division lead to 1.5.

When they returned from that road trip, the Royals had an 8 game homestand where the smallest crowd was 29,769 for a Tuesday night game against the Reds. In that game, Yordano Ventura outdueled Johnny Cueto, a fine pitcher for the Redlegs who may be on the trade market later in the season. Before the two game sweep of the Reds, the Royals had taken 2 of 3 from the Yankees.

For the final 3 games, the Cardinals came to town with the best record in baseball on the line. Prior to the series starting, the Cardinals had the best record in the league at 27-14 with the 26-14 Royals and 27-15 Astros a half game back. The winner of the series would lay claim to baseball's best record. It was in Kansas City and drew over 112K fans for the three games. FYI: 25-17 Detroit and 24-17 Washington had the 3rd best records in their respective leagues (the Dodgers were 2nd in the NL at 24-16). Tampa was leading the AL East at 23-19 while 19-24 Toronto was in last. I'm sure that's where all of those teams would end up.

The Royals stand toe-to-toe with the Cardinals as one of the best teams in baseball. The Cardinals have the best record in the National League. The Royals have the best record in the American League. The Cardinals have a run differential of +56. The Royals have a run differential of +64. This is very possibly a World Series preview. -Max

http://m.mlb.com/video/v126799483/

Kendrys Morales and Chris Young won the game for the Royals on Friday night. Morales hit a 3-run homer in the 1st and a 2-run homer in the 3rd. Chris Young pitched 6 shutout innings and ended a month where had given up 1 ER across 29.2 IP. Notice that "Vote Royals" behind home plate at about the 20 second mark of the clip? We'll get to that in a little bit. The Royals won a rain-shortened, karma-fueled game 2 by the score of 3-2 in 6 innings. And, as of that evening, May 23rd, their record stood at 28-14 and Kansas City was atop baseball with the best record in the league. The Cardinals won the third game 6-1 but they still had to go live in St. Louis. The blue clad crew won the series and still laid claim to the best record in baseball.

Unfortunately, the month ended on a sour note as the final loss of the Cardinals series started a stretch where Kansas City lost 9 of 11. The two wins were the only games where they scored more than 2 runs. The stretch was so bad that Wade Davis glitched, gave up a run, and took a loss. Not a legitimate run, mind you, as New York failed a replay horribly enough that even the Cleveland announcers were surprised the call on the field wasn't overturned. But that runner would come around to score as the Royals defense faltered a little on the next play. Wade couldn't get the 5th out of the inning before the go-ahead run crossed home plate. Still, it took until June for Wade Davis to give up his first run after 22 scoreless innings in April and May.

First Place For Good

At the end of that cold streak, the Royals had fallen to 30-23 and were a game behind... the Twins. Wait? The Twins? Minnesota had a 20-7 May while the Tigers were busy losing 10 of 12 themselves. In Kansas City, panic was in the streets with heretical suggestions about getting Escobar out of the leadoff spot and removing Guthrie from the rotation so he could not still be pitching. Conveniently, the Royals opened up a 3 game series in Minnesota.

I wish I had a great video clip to share from this series. Sure, there was the great Royals defense that we've come to expect and Morales and Gordon hit home runs. But in two of the games, the Royals scored the decisive runs before the Twins even batted and in the middle game they scored the winning run in the 2nd. The Twins never had a lead and the only time they were tied was at 0; there was no drama, just domination. Vargas, Young, and Volquez all gave up 1 or less in 6 IP or more. The most notable events that happened in the series were that Vargas "took a liner to the onions", Chris Young took a no-hitter into the 6th, and Torii Hunter took off his clothes.

That was the kind of series it was for the Twins. The real significance of this series requires spoilers. The Royals tied the Twins for the division lead after the first game and, after that, the division race was over. Kansas City was in sole possession of first place thereafter in 2015. I'm not saying the 2015 Twins were the 2003 Royals as I think they have more long term talent. But both finished at 83-79 not even close to 1st place by the time the season was over. The Royals also took back the best record in the AL, which they flirted with much of the season.

Including the Royals series, the Twins lost 7 of their next 8. Meanwhile the Royals bounced back from their losing ways to almost win 15 out of 20. Of note, they won a series in the Battle for Grass Creek, lost a pair in St Louis, and swept 3 in Oakland with no major altercations after the early season extracurriculars.

The Royals have won 14 of their last 19 and are really looking like the cream of the crop in the league this year. They still may have some flaws, but this is starting to look like a team that, with perhaps a move or two, can be the favorites to win the pennant and once again make it ALWAYS OCTOBER. -Max

During this stretch, Ned Yost caught Dick Howser (404) and Whitey Herzog (410) on the Royals manager wins leaderboard. The last of 4 wins against his former employer, the Brewers, gave Ned Yost his 411th win as Royals manager, giving him the most in franchise history. Royals history is now #Yosted. If my math is correct, he would pass Tony Muser for the most losses in franchise history later in the month (June 30, I think). He also ended the season 1 game under .500 for his Royals tenure at 468-469. Incidentally, last October, he went from tied for last to first with 11 playoff wins.

With success at the major league level, unmentioned so far is the draft. The Royals took Ashe Russell with their first pick at #21, Nolan Watson at #33 with the James Shields compensation pick, and Josh Staumont in the 2nd round. For more information on the trio of RHP atop the Royals draft or on anyone else, check out the RR draft recap.

In the next installment, we'll finish up the first half, cover some more fun like webgems, the trade deadline, and September hysteria. And I can't help but think I might have forgotten one of the biggest stories in the first half, too (Also: these things are sometimes more topical than chronological).

This FanPost was written by a member of the Royals Review community. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors and writers of this site.