FanPost

The Story of the 2015 Kansas City Royals: Part 6 - 2015 Regular Season III

Pool Photo-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:

August Highs (Cueto Night and 30 Games Over)...

The Royals dropped 2 of 3 to the Tigers to start the month but that would be the only series loss in August. The Royals swept the White Sox and then took 2 of 3 from Detroit. The Monday August 10th game of the Detroit series will go down as Johnny Cueto's most memorable regular season moment with the Royals. On an ESPN nationally televised game, Cueto threw a 4 hit shutout and beat the Tigers 4-0. He struck out 8 and walked 0 in his 6th career shutout. He threw 116 pitches and 86(!) of those were strikes. The command, the quick pitch, the rocking chair - it was all working. Over 36K in attendance gave him a standing ovation after the end of the 5th and every inning after including all of the top of the 9th. Welcome to Kansas City, Johnny.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v355958883/

The Royals dropped the final game to the Tigers, blowing a lead after 7 for the first time in 111 games, dating back to May 5, 2014. It was the second longest streak in baseball since 1914. Volquez had been cruising along at only 85 pitches and 2 runs through 7. However, the first four Tigers reached in the 8th, tying the game. Herrera let in a couple of inherited runners and the streak was over.

After Detroit was a 4 game set with the Angels, "the last big test against a fellow contender". After this series, only one makeup game remained against a team with a serious shot to make the playoffs. Usually the words "The first game was an unmitigated disaster as Jeremy Guthrie" would explain everything. Except in this case, those words were followed by "and Ryan Madson handed a 5-1 lead to Wade Davis and Greg Holland". Davis gave up 2 runs for the first time in 114 outings, dating back to April 2014. One could excuse it away with his balky back, which had kept him out of action for a week, or the horrible strike zone against Mike Trout. But the fact remained that the Royals were still up 5-3 going into the 9th. Greg Holland gave up single, walk, wild pitch, double, E3, double, wild pitch, walk, and his night was done. Franklin Morales got out of the 1st and 3rd with 0 out without any further damage but the Angels had a 7-5 lead. An Eric Hosmer HR would make it 7-6 but the Royals rally fell short as Alex Rios flew out to deep left center to end the game. In back-to-back games all three of HDH had a hand in blowing leads. Madson and Herrera had been roughed up earlier in the month most notably in the Toronto series, Davis had been battling a bad back, and Holland had not really been right all season, but especially in the second half.

Unlike days of Royals yore, this didn't precipitate a tailspin. In the second game, Madson, Herrera, and Holland backed a strong Duffy start. Saturday saw Johnny Cueto throw 8 innings of 1 run ball on a night when Mike Sweeney was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame. And Sunday found the Royals on Sunday Night Baseball. Yordano Ventura and Hector Santiago left the game 2-2 after 7. Wade Davis gave up his 2nd home run in 4 outings, this time to Cole Calhoun, and his ERA"ballooned" to 1.13 after starting the month at 0.41. Hosmer walked and advanced to 2nd on a Morales ground out. Moustakas was intentionally walked to bring up Drew Butera, who was batting for Salvador Perez. Perez was ejected for the first time in his career back in the 7th inning. Butera walked to load the bases and then Alex Rios tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Paulo Orlando's bid for a walkoff gapper was thwarted by a Mike Trout running catch. It just delayed the inevitable, however, as Morales drove in the winning run against his former team in the 10th, singling home Zobrist. All 10 games on the 8-2 homestand drew 30K+ fans.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v378655983

The rest of the month was kindof boring, that is, If "winning Royals baseball" is boring. How else do you explain the kerfuffle about Ned's Apple Watch, for instance? They swept 2 games from Cincinnati, split 4 with the Red Sox, and won 3 of 4 from Baltimore. They took the first two in a series from Tampa, reaching what would be their season high at 31 games above .500. On August 29th, they finished the day at 80-49. This put them 14 up on Minnesota for the Central, 7 up on Toronto for AL home field, and only 3 behind the Cardinals for best record in baseball. This success caused RR to ask "Do teams get rusty without much to play for in September?" They lost the last game of the series and month to Tampa to end August at 80-50, 30 games over .500.

...and September Lows (Chicken Little and the Battle for Home Field)

On September 1st, Alex Gordon came back from injury and and the Royals took 2 of 3 from Detroit to start the month and get back to 31 games over .500 at 82-51. However, in a near mirror image of August, after the win against Detroit, the team only won 1 other series all month. It was mostly downhill from there and there was a lot of uneasiness about the September Royals. Along with Gordon, some minor league players were added when rosters expanded. Cuthbert, Colon, Gore, Almonte, Alexander, and Pena. Also, Johnny Gomes was acquired via trade on August 31st. Presumably he was insurance because Alex Rios had chicken pox. Wait? Chicken Pox?

Yes, both Alex Rios and Kelvin Herrera caught chicken pox. There was fear more players were infected as it's highly contagious and many players either had not caught it as a kid or were not immunized. Thankfully, no one else caught it so the biggest thing to come out of it were jokes about disease being the only thing that could stop the Royals and plans to sneak players into the Cardinals clubhouse.

Unfortunately, that was one of the few humorous things from September. The play on the field was less so. After winning the Detroit series, the Royals went 1-5 against the White Sox and Twins. The White Sox series featured the ill-fated Zombie night and Johnny Cueto falling apart with his 4th straight loss. It was not all bad news: in the lone win against the Twins, the Royals were up 4-0 after 9 pitches. And look at that lineup! Look at it (and pretend Dyson is 8th, not Rios). That almost looks like a well constructed playoff-ready lineup: Zobrist-Gordon-Cain-Hosmer-Morales-Moustakas-Perez-(Dyson)-Escobar. In the finale, 32286 fans watched a Wednesday night (!) game against the Twins and broke the Royals single season attendance mark with 6 home games still to go.

Even with the expected rest for starting players, changed bullpen roles, positional battles for the postseason, and silly things like pitching Joba Chamberlain, it was expected that the Royals would clinch the division on the 10 game road trip that followed. This was not the case as the team lost 2 of 3 in Baltimore, split a 4 game series with Cleveland, and lost 2 of 3 in Detroit. But, again, there were highlights on the trip. One day after his 27th birthday and through 5 innings, Mike Moustakas was 0 for 2 and the Royals were down 4-1 in the middle game of the Baltimore series. In the 6th, he collected a 2-run single to tie the game. In the 7th, his grand slam put them up 11-4. And, in the 9th, his 3-run homer gave him 9 RBIs on the day, matching the highest total in the MLB this season. It also shattered the franchise record of 7, held by everyone from George Brett to Jerry Grote. It's a who's who of Royals history with Willie Aikens, Frank White, Bo Jackson (twice), Kevin Seitzer, Johnny Damon, Raul Ibanez, Mike Sweeney, Jose Guillen, and Billy Butler all sharing the record with the aforementioned Brett and Grote.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v474814183/

In the first win in Cleveland, Medlen and MDH (Madson) combined for a 6 hit shutout. But it will more be remembered for the Indians fireworks guy setting one off for an Alex Rios home run. Oops.

In the other win in Cleveland, Omar Infante, who had recently been benched, joined the list a few paragraphs ago of "Royals with 7 RBIs in a game". He had a 3-run homer, 2-run double, and 2-run single in an 8-4 win. He laid down a bunt in one of his other ABs and lined out to deep RF in the 9th as he was bidding for the cycle, needing a triple.

The Tigers walked off with 2 extra inning wins before the Royals salvaged the final game of the road trip 10-3. Another Royal record fell in this game as Kendrys Morales logged 15 total bases: 3 home runs and a triple. It also led to this awesome Salvy gif.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v492761383/

Despite the bright spots, it felt like the team and season and were unraveling. Omar Infante was shut down the rest of the season with an oblique injury a couple of days after his huge game. Greg Holland went from ineffective to out of the closer's job to needing Tommy John surgery to revealing he's been hurt all year in less than a week. Johnny Cueto was carrying around an ERA over 9 for the past month. Guthrie returned to the rotation, replacing an inconsistent Danny Duffy. Admittedly, the move was as much about getting Duffy ready for the bullpen come playoff time as Kris Medlen won the "race" for 4th starter. The playoffs were not really in doubt as the magic number kept going down, mainly on Minnesota losses more than Kansas City wins. However, the huge home field advantage lead was down to 2 over the Blue Jays, midway through the trip. The Royals returned home for the final homestand of the year.

First Time in 30 Years: A Division Title

*The final homestand featured 3 against Seattle and 3 against Cleveland with a magic number of 3 for the first division title in 30 years. However, Toronto was only 1.5 (3/2) games back for home field. The opener was the final "Guthrie is still pitching" start of the year (and possibly Royals career) as he was shelled for 9 (3^2) in less than 3 innings. In the second game, the Royals were down 3-1 through 6 and Lorenzo Cain was 0 for 3. But in the 7th, he doubled and scored on a Hosmer single. In the 9th, he singled with 1 out and scored on a Jarrod Dyson sacrifice fly. And in the 10th, his single drove in a flying, diving Paulo Orlando.

*This salvo in the Battle of Grass Creek brought to you by the number 3

On Thursday, September 24th, the Twins fell behind early and lost 6-3 to Cleveland, dropping the Royals magic number to 1. Even though a lot of the shine had come off Cueto night due to a 9.57 ERA in 5 starts from mid August to early September, his last start was promising with 2 ER in 7 IP. He gave up 3 in the first 4 innings but calmed down, going 7 with just the 3 ER allowed. Kansas City was down 3-2 after 4 but they scored in every inning thereafter: an Eric Hosmer homer in the 5th, 2 RBI single by Cain in the 6th, 2 more in the 7th, and 3 more in the 8th. When Wade Davis came out for the 9th, up 10-3, it wasn't anything close to a save situation. Below is video of the Royals clinching their first division title in 30 years. The top is both the tv and radio call and a little of the celebration. The bottom has more interviews including Danny Duffy in a bear costume.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v500353683

http://m.mlb.com/video/v500538383

With wins in 3 of the last 4 games and a division title, it looked like the Royals were turning things around. But the Royals lost the first 2 of the Cleveland series and panic began anew as Volquez, Medlen, and the bullpen all got knocked around a bit. The first game featured the infamous hungover lineup with only a couple of regulars playing: "Butera at 1B" is probably all that needs to be said. They salvaged the third game with Chris Young going 5 no-hit innings. The bullpen quartet of Duffy, Madson, Herrera, and Davis pitched 4 more scoreless, only giving up 2 hits.

36,339 fans attended the final home game, pushing the season's attendance to a franchise record 2,708,549. This total and average of 33,438 was good for 10th in the league and 5th by percentage (88.2%). Since the All-Star break, the Royals had 35 home games and all but 6 of those had 30K+ fans; those 6 were weekday games with 25K or more. For the entire season, the Royals only had 7 games with under 25K and every single Royals game had at least 20K fans.

Those who weren't filling the stands were watching in huge numbers on TV. The Royals had a 12.3 rating in Kansas City, the highest for any regional sports network in over 10 years. The most watched moment was the 9th inning of the division clincher with a 23.1 rating and 213K households watching. "The Royals were the most-watched program on any network in Kansas City during the season".

After the losing series against Cleveland, Toronto had caught the Royals for home field, both teams at 90-65 with 7 games left on the road. The Royals had a makeup game against the Cubs, 3 against the White Sox, and 3 in Minnesota. Toronto had 4 at Baltimore and 3 in Tampa. The Royals dropped the first two in Chicago while the Blue Jays rallied to win against the Orioles the first game and then were rained out. This dropped Kansas City 1.5 behind Toronto for home field. The Royals ended the month with a 10 inning win against the White Sox while Toronto split their doubleheader in Baltimore. In their first game, they clinched the AL East and the second featured their white flag lineup. The month ended with 4 games to play for each team, Toronto, who freakishly went 53-28 at home during the regular season, up 1 in the race for home field advantage. The Royals bade good riddance to September as it was their only losing month all season at 11-17.

October: Flipping the Switch?

"The numbers do not bear it out, and I have no idea," -Ned Yost on 103-59 record with Escobar leading off

September 30th marked the return of Alcides Escobar to the leadoff spot, moving better OBP players Ben Zobrist and Alex Gordon down in the lineup. The switch inexplicably coincided with better starting pitching and the team started winning again. On October 1st, the Royals won the final game against the White Sox and the Blue Jays dropped their finale in Baltimore. Suddenly, the race for home field was back even with 3 games to go.

Both teams rallied late for wins on Friday night, the Royals scoring a pair in the 8th for a 3-1 win over the Twins. Toronto picked up 4 in the 6th and 3 in the 7th against the Rays to turn a 4-1 deficit into an 8-4 victory. Like Friday, the Royals and Twins were knotted at 1 after 6. This time the Royals pushed across 3 in the 7th to win 4-1. The Jays were cruising along 3-1 after 6 but the Jays closed it to 3-2 in the 7th and walked off on a 2-out, 2-run Tim Beckham single in the 9th. The Royals were one game up with one to play.

Going into game 162, the scenarios were simple for Kansas City: a Royals win or Jays loss and the Royal would clinch home field. The AL West was a bit trickier with Houston, Texas, and Anaheim vying for 2 spots and the Yankees not sure whether they would be hosting or traveling for the AL Wild Card game. Johnny Cueto pitched for the Royals while Mark Buehrle started on short rest for the Jays. Buehrle was supposed to pitch 2 innings and give way to the bullpen. This would give him 15 straight seasons of 200 IP, a feat only accomplished by HOF pitchers Warren Spahn, Don Sutton, and Gaylord Perry. Buehrle never made it out of the first, giving up 5 hits and a walk, but his 8 runs were all unearned due to a pair of Toronto errors. The Royals scored 3 in the 2nd and 2 in the 3rd en route to a 6-1 win. The Royals clinched home field advantage.

Around the league, Texas knocked Anaheim out of the playoffs and the field was set. The Rangers won the West and the Yankees hosted the Astros in the AL Wild Card game. In a battle of their aces, the Astros Dallas Keuchel bested the Yankees Masahiro Tanaka 3-0. Toronto would host Texas in the ALDS and the defending AL Champion Kansas City would host Houston. In the NL, the Dodgers cruised to the West title 8 games ahead of the Giants. The Nationals collapsed, finishing barely above .500 while the Mets, bolstered by a young pitching staff and trade deadline acquisition Yoenis Cespedes, won the East by 7. The NL Central boasted the three best records in baseball with the division winning 100-62 Cardinals and the Wild Card teams. The 98-64 Pirates hosted the 97-65 Cubs. NL Cy Young winner Jake Arrieta scattered 5 hits and struck out 11 in a 4-0 shutout. The Dodgers would host the Mets and the Cardinals would host the Cubs.

The Royals started October 4-0 and if they went 11-5 in the playoffs, they would win 15 of 20 in October. Kansas City finished with 95 wins, the Central division title, and home field throughout the playoffs. It was one of the best regular seasons in franchise history. However, last year's playoffs ended with an AL Pennant and 90 feet short for Kansas City. This year, team and fan aspirations were towards a loftier goal

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.