FanPost

Why the Narrative From the Last Series is All Wrong

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I was scrolling through my Twitter feed last night and came across a tweet from Sports Illustrated that read, "Brett Lawrie ignited plunking-filled weekend, but did Royals take it too far?"


The answer is yes.


But before the Royals faithful gets ready to beam me with every last baseball in their possession, let me explain how that is not necessarily a bad thing.


The immediately topic of conversation in the aftermath of this series was centered on how wrong the Royals were for their overzealous attempt at retaliation. Looking at this through a different scope, knowing this was a case of a competitive series getting emotional, the Royals showed why they’re not a team that is just a one hit wonder (no pun intended) in the grand scheme of things.


From last year’s squad, the Royals lost James Shields, who is definitely a starter that is a tough piece to replace. Also, one could argue that Billy Butler was replaced by a better DH in Kendrys Morales. Other than those departures, and the inclusion of Alex Rios, the rest of the Royals from the World Series team remain, more or less, on the roster with the same fire that has carried over from last October.


Fire is the component that I’ve seen from most of the successful and exciting teams from the past. To keep it in Major League Baseball, the most recent comparisons that have crossed my mind are the 2004 group of self-proclaimed idiots, the Boston Red Sox, the 2006 pennant winning Detroit Tigers, and the last few World Series winning Giants teams. All of these ball clubs had an identity-- a single identity, and that is what made them all so good and timely.


This team will be in the thick of it until the end of the season and further. Whether they win the division, make the playoffs, or not, the Royals are here to last because they are willing to take it too far. The Kansas City Royals’ identity is what’s fun about them, and that’s what I took away from this series.

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.