FanPost

The Fight Is On

The Fight Is On

Is it October yet? Or does this just feel like playoff baseball in the middle of April? Through the first twelve games of the young 2015 campaign, the Royals are sitting at 9-3, which is one of the best records in all of baseball, but currently only good for second place in the AL Central. While winning games and establishing success early in the season is important, finding an identity and the recipe for success is vital to having a good season. And while it is still early, I believe the Royals have done just that. These first four series have given fans reason to hope for another long October run. Sure, you might point to the 2003 team that started a perfect 9-0 to begin their season. They collapsed down the stretch to reach a record of 83-79, which was not good enough to be a playoff team. This team is so much better, though. This weekend, the Royals proved to the baseball world that they will not be bullied this season. Several opponents have tried to intimidate Kansas City by pitching them inside or by hitting batters, but the Royals have responded to every team that has attempted to use that strategy.

One of the questions many baseball experts had coming into this season was whether they could replace the leadership of a guy like James Shields. Personally, I believe the Royals have responded overwhelmingly well to Shields' departure, as new leaders seem to be stepping up every day. As of right now, Lorenzo Cain seems to be the heart and soul of this lineup. He is one of the hottest hitters in the MLB, and he is playing Gold Glove defense in center field. Yesterday, he hit an RBI double and stole third to put Kendrys Morales in a position to knock him in, and drive the Royals to victory, and that is exactly what happened. Before last season, another question was whether the Royals could make a run in the playoffs without any bonafide star power on their roster. Oddly enough, the Royals answered those critics by using a balanced attack without any true star power, and becoming AL Champion. This is the strength of the Royals. While I call Cain the heart and soul of the team, guys like Perez, Hosmer, Morales, and Gordon can step up at any time. That is a scary thought for any opposing pitching staff.

It wasn't long ago when Detroit Free Press columnist, Jeff Seidel, called the Royals "A cute little team that needs to go away." Seidel was not the only columnist to belittle the tough Royals team, as several writers expected the Royals to wither down the stretch last season and fail to make the playoffs. Seidel wrote that article in a crucial series between the Royals and the Tigers in September of last season. The Royals took notice of the way the Detroit media felt about them, and used the bulletin board material to their advantage. A major turning point from the "old Royals" to the "new Royals" was in that series. The Royals lost the first two games of that series, and were just playing not to get swept by the Tigers. I will never forget what happened in the third game of that series. Lorenzo Cain got a hard hit single, and met Detroit star, Miguel Cabrera at first base. Cabrera attempted to joke around with Cain, and to word it lightly, Cain told Cabrera to shut up. Cain proceeded to steal second base to score a run, and also hit a triple in that game, which is where I saw him transform into the passionate leader that the Royals have today. The whole team now seems to have the same "Us against the world" attitude that Cain carries, and the Royals are refusing to be pushed around.

While the Royals have been successful the past two seasons, some teams are still seeming to approach Kansas City as a team that they can bully. They must believe they are dealing with the twenty-nine Royals teams who couldn't make the playoffs, and not the AL Champion Royals. Kansas City was tested on Opening Day, as Jeff Samardzija intentionally beamed Lorenzo Cain. I say intentionally because Samardzija was frustrated after Moustakas hit an opposite field home run, and took his frustration out on Cain. Cain and Samardzija exchanged words and tempers flared, but the dugouts did not clear in that game. Cain was hit again in the second game, but he got his revenge by hitting a 2-run homer that pushed the Royals ahead, as they won 7-5. In the final game, veteran pitcher Edinson Volquez stood up for his team by beaming Chicago DH, Adam LaRoche. This is starting to become a reoccuring theme to the 2015 season.

This weekend, the Royals were welcoming back former DH, Billy Butler. While the fans showed up in huge numbers all weekend to support the Royals and Butler, this was not a warm welcoming for Oakland, and likely not the kind of coming back party that Billy likely envisioned. In the first game of the series, Oakland's third baseman, Brett Lawrie, made a very aggressive slide into second base (If you haven't seen the slide, watch it here). In the slide, he cleated shortstop Alcides Escobar and did not make a real attempt to make it safe at second. In the process, he took Escobar out of the game and injured his left knee. The benches cleared, but there were no punches thrown, and for the rest of the night, the Royals did not retaliate. However, it was not the same story on Saturday. Yordano Ventura was on the mount, and he clearly did not have his best stuff. He was getting rocked in the fourth inning, giving up five runs. Lawrie stepped to the plate, right after Ventura gave up a three run blast from Josh Reddick. Ventura hit Lawrie with a 99 MPH fastball, and Ventura was ejected. Nothing more happened on Friday night, and according to Royals players, the situation had been resolved. However, they were wrong to believe the situation was over. On Sunday, in the first inning, Oakland Pitcher, Scott Kazmir beamed Cain with two outs in the first inning. Ned Yost was furious, as Ventura got tossed out in the game before for retaliating. He and pitching coach Dave Eiland were both ejected from the game in the first inning. Personally, I believe Kazmir hit Cain intentionally, as he waited until there was a situation with two outs and no runners on. He got the opportunity, and hit Cain early. While the Royals thought the situation was resolved in the Saturday night game, the emotions were flying high again Sunday from the first inning until the last pitch. The Royals trailed 2-0 in the 8th inning, and they had two outs with no runners on. Relief pitcher, Kelvin Herrera was on the mound, and threw two pitches at Brett Lawrie. He was immediately ejected from the game, and the benches cleared again. The Royals had six people ejected from games this weekend, and Oakland had none.

Teams believe they can beat the Royals by intimidating them, and the Royals are fighting back. Make no mistake about it, the Royals are fiery bunch that has each others back. They are not the old, passionless Royals that lost 100 games in three consecutive seasons. In the aftermath of the weekend drama with Oakland, Herrera and Ventura could be facing suspensions. There are already columnists out there calling Herrera "A disgrace to baseball", but what really went on in Kansas City this weekend, was a team from Oakland thought that they could mess with the "cute, little" Royals. The team that they ended up facing was not cute or little, and they ended up beating them in the three game series. So while the team is sitting with a solid 9-3 record to start the season, I believe what is more impressive is that; 1. They are doing it without a healthy team. Rios is out for at least the next few weeks with a fractured hand, Gordon is still not playing every day because of the wrist that was operated on this winter, Holland is on the DL with a pectoral strain, Luke Hochevar is working a rehab assignment in Omaha and recovering from Tommy John surgery, and Omar Infante has had elbow problems and yesterday hurt his groin. 2. The Royals are fighting harder than I have ever seen them fight. They are a close group of guys, and it is obvious that if you mess with them, they will not fall apart and they will likely end up beating you.

If the Royals are going to become a hated team around baseball because they play with passion and they have more flair than most teams, then so be it. Embrace the hate from other fans, and embrace a team that is going to fight for each other through thick and thin. If you ever have trouble accepting a team that plays with as much passion as this years Royals team does, it shouldn't be hard to think back to the teams that played for nothing more than to get a paycheck or the teams that had some great "clubhouse guys" that could never win more than 70 games. So my question to you is: If we take on the role of the "bad boys of baseball" that know how to win and will do whatever it takes to win, are you really not satisfied with that?

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.