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The best of Royals Review in 2015

In a small way, you were all champions this year.

By Max Rieper, J.K. Ward, Josh Duggan, Kevin Ruprecht, Matthew LaMar, Minda Haas Kuhlmann, Ryan McGlaughlin, Tim Webber, Tyler Drenon, Shaun Newkirk, and Matt Jackson
Christopher Polk/Getty Images

It was a banner year at Royals Review. In a small way, it felt like the Royals won the World Series. Perhaps that is because the Royals defeated the Mets in the World Series. Pretty cool how that works out.

Fortunately, all this success has not gone to our heads and everyone - writers and readers - produced some of this site's finest work. While last year's Best of Royals Review fell just 90 feet short of being the best, none can top what we produced this year.

Best Opinion Articles

Lee Judge called Royals Review a "dim view of humanity" after researching reactions to the Kendrys Morales signing, so Matthew LaMar offered a rebuttal.

Matthew also took Lee to task for suggesting Bryce Harper should be choked.

And he marveled in the best two-year period in Kansas City sports history.

Joshua Ward took a thoughtful look at how race affected the confrontations between the Royals and other teams.

He also took a look back at some of the worst players in franchise history for a "Franchise Floor."

Max Rieper didn't get the outrage over Royals fans stuffing the All-Star ballot.

He also took issue with the media praise for Noah Syndergaard nearly hitting Alcides Escobar in the World Series.

Tyler Drenon relished in how the Royals beat the odds.

Best Analytical Articles

Josh Duggan lamented on what to do about Omar Infante.

Max Rieper looked at how the increased attendance would impact revenues.

Matthew LaMar thought Ben Zobrist would be a good addition to the Royals almost a month before they acquired him.

Matt Jackson offered a eulogy for Greg Holland's elbow.

Kevin Ruprecht wrote about what an undervalued asset Rusty Kuntz has been.

He also looked at how the Royals silenced the hot bat of Daniel Murphy in the World Series.

He also thought perhaps the Royals had blown up the market for free agent relievers.

Shaun Newkirk dug through the financials to see if the Royals could sign Alex Gordon.

He also looked into what was wrong with Royals prospect Hunter Dozier.

Best Interviews:

Minda Haas had a great talk with pitcher John Lamb, who would go on to make his Major League debut with the Reds this season.

Minda also caught up with fan favorite Mitch Maier.

Max Rieper got to talk to Royals legend Bret Saberhagen about pitching.

He also caught up with Mike Moustakas while dining on Stouffers Fit Kitchen meals.

Joshua Duggan got to know a number of readers in his "Better Know a Commenter" series.

Best Fanposts

Gross(est) wrote about her 2015 FanFest experience.

Before he joined the writing staff, Tim Webber violated the unwritten rules of baseball by writing that baseballs are a disgrace to baseball.

He also cracked the case of the Blue Jays stealing sandwiches.

big_z wrote about Royals fantasy camp. Day One, Day Two, Day Three.

dcauthon explained how one blogger's claim that hacking the All-Star vote was easy, was actually wrong.

pro_birdwatcher went to see the Idaho Falls Chukars.

The Ben Zobrist deal worked out great, but jackie ballgame gave a good argument why a Ben Zobrist deal might not be a good idea.

Farmhand wrote about his trip to Kansas City to meet up with some of us and see Johnny Cueto's Kauffman debut.

He also penned an ode to Alex Gordon.

CobraCy once again showed us the bizarre items available in the Royals team store.

Before joining the staff, Ryan McGlaughlin wrote about how Chris Young may be the perfect choice to pitch in Toronto in the ALCS and how Edinson Volquez overcame adversity.

mikemarshallwilson wrote about Royals fans exorcising their demons.

Mike Brown had a three-part series evaluating Dayton Moore's transactions. Here is Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

Best Game Recaps

Kris Medlen struck a blow against Vladimir Putin in a 6-3 win in St. Petersburg.

Jeremy Guthrie is still pitching in this 11-2 horror show in Seattle.

This 8-2 win over Seattle stuck a blow in the Battle for Grass Creek.

Kansas City clinched its first division title in 30 years.

The Royals epic comeback in Houston is still hard to believe. Shaun Newkirk's summary of the comeback is also a nice recap.

The 14-2 laugher in Toronto for the ALCS was a lot of fun.

Winning the pennant was also a lot of fun.

Game One of the World Series took forever, but it was worth it.

The Royals had another rally in Game Four.

CHAMPS!

Best Humor

Kevin Ruprecht projected Alex Gordon to eat four hot dogs in 2015.

Josh Duggan took it upon himself to give Kendrys Morales a nickname.

He also reviewed "The Royals" on E!, giving us a Royals Review "Royals" review.

Joshua Ward gave us the definitive list of "Rex-isms".

Shaun Newkirk came up with his own Franchise Four for each team, that was much more inspired than MLB's bland choices.

Matthew LaMar was pleased that ESPN discovered there are 30 teams in Major League Baseball.

Best Comments

In our pre-season thread, pro birdwatcher outed himself as a time-traveler.

_yallah_ came up with All-Star Game bingo.

Gopherballs helped teach us about Canadian baseball.

LaFlamme translated Jeremy Guthrie's post-game speech.

The Royals and Mets faced off in the Fall Classic, but there was some mutual respect.

kcstengel gave some good analysis of what the Tony Cruz trade meant for the Royals.

Royals Review readers were excited about the upcoming Star Wars movie.

Best GIFs/Photoshops/Mashups

Max Rieper had some fun with Astros fan and Tony Sipp.

Max also re-imagined Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain as the leads for a re-boot of the sitcom Perfect Strangers, using Salvy's Instagram account.

Yordano got back.

Taylor Witt got us pumped up for the playoffs.

Dancin' Bret Saberhagen never gets old.

We said goodbye to beat writer Andy McCullough and his hilarious ESPN photoshopped pinstripe suit.

Other:

Matthew LaMar gave a much-needed guide to the memes of Royals Review.

Max Rieper had to explain to the media that the 60 million All-Star votes for Royals players did not just disappear, even going on NPR's "Morning Edition" to explain.

It was quite an All-Star open thread with so many Royals.

Joshua Ward got to spend some time in the Crown Club at Kauffman Stadium and lived to write about it.

Matt Jackson gave us the perspective of a Royals fan living in Toronto during the ALCS.

Jonny Gomes gave us quite a championship rally.

The SB Nation Off-season Sim is always fun, especially when the Royals aren't making moves in real life.

Thanks again for a great season. Let's go win another championship in 2016, shall we?

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