The best of Royals Review in 2018

For Royals fans, 2018 brought losses, so....many.....losses. But we survived and were the stronger for it. I sometimes think the losing seasons bring out the best in this site, what with our gallow’s humor. Perhaps these pieces are a testament to that. I present to you, the best of Royals Review in 2018.

Best opinion pieces

Alex Duvall wanted baseball to confront its tanking issue.

Max Rieper felt it was time for the Royals to have an official Pride Night and Matthew LaMar investigated to see if progress was being made in the team embracing an unofficial Pride Night from fans.

Max also thought that despite the losses, this was a great year for the Royals.

Hokius wondered why were weren’t confronting ugly tweets made by players in the past rather than trying to cover them up.

Matthew lamented that the Royals gave up Matt Strahm for nothing.

He also questioned whether the Royals understood how numbers worked.

Sean Thornton takes a look into where Dayton Moore’s focus is.

He also cautioned not to panic yet over the Mike Matheny hiring.

Best analytical articles

Max Rieper showed just how much the price drops for free agents after January 1.

He also found that even with a slow market, the number of one-year deals was down.

Hokius details the many reasons why it made no sense for the Royals to re-sign Eric Hosmer.

Shaun Newkirk and Max Rieper did some thorough research to try to estimate how much the Royals made in revenues. 1040X had a rebuttal.

Matthew LaMar explained why the Royals were trading away their good players.

Alex Duvall looked at how the Royals could make a blockbuster deal with the Brewers even before Mike Moustakas was dealt.

And he analyzed how the Royals could get more out of Billy Hamilton.

Patrick Brennan looked at the early results on Ryan O’Hearn.

Best history articles

Hokius explained how owners had colluded against players in the ‘80s to help identify if they might be doing it again.

Max Rieper looked back at the greatest outfield in Royals history that just couldn’t stay together.

Bradford Lee made the case for former GM Cedric Tallis to be in the Royals Hall of Fame.

He also wrote a number of biographies, including this one of Cookie Rojas.

sterlingice looked back at the history of the baseball card industry.

Sean Thornton looked at the Royals/Yankees rivalry over the years.

Best humor articles

Max Rieper got exclusive texts between Ned Yost and Eric Hosmer before Hos departed for San Diego.

Hokius explained why the Chiefs can’t win in the playoffs, recently.

He also traveled the multi-verse to determine the likeliest of the Royals’ futures.

Sean Thornton diary gave a glimpse into the Royals final five weeks of 2018.

The Royals want speed, so A Fast Horse volunteered his services.

Best game recaps

Matthew LaMar recapped the Jays win over the Royals broadcast on Facebook with NO COLLUSION from the Russians.

Can you believe Ned Yost made some questionable decisions? Matthew covered them well in an April loss.

He also left a secret not-too-subtle message in this loss to the Angels.

And noted that the Royals and White Sox left ALL THE MEN ON BASE.

Josh Duggan wrote of those dastardly Russians’ latest attempt to kill America’s pastime in the latest battle in a war of attrition and also of those St. Petersburg Devil Rays’ invasion of the K.

OMD also recapped a humdinger of a dong-fest, waxed poetic about a Hammel meltdown in Boston, .

Best fanposts

GoodTimesFromCabriniGreen recounted how he became a Royals fan.

artzfreak gave us a Royals tune “Inside the K.”

kmcm2010 noted that the Royals had gone heavy with college pitchers in the draft before.

bhwick quantified the awfulness of Blaine Boyer and wrote a ballad for Alcides Escobar collecting bonuses despite being bad.

Antiwabang looked a the battle at third base between Cheslor Cuthbert and Hunter Dozier.

kcstengelsr wondered whether terrible baseball teams was a constant or whether this season was an aberration.

MrAndersonnm was encouraged by early returns on Ryan O’Hearn.

27Down made a case for firing Dayton Moore.

CobraCy gave us his annual Royals merchandise shopping guide.

Best GIFs/Videos/Photoshops/Social Media

We had some issues with the Royals’ countdown of the top 50 players in franchise history.

The Omaha Storm Chasers offered to take the Marlins home run machine now that they don’t want it.

Whit Merrifield was big in Japan - at least on a game show.

Sweep_the_Leg reminded us there are three certainties in life - death, taxes, and Alcides Escobar in the Royals lineup.

Best comments

Tony Pena Jr. is now a minor league manager, which got cmkeller wondering.

We all wish we were related to Salvy.

When a minor league team re-named itself as the “Trash Pandas”, Max Rieper wondered if that was a copyright infringement.

The trade of Drew Butera brought back good memories for cmkeller.

Other

Matthew LaMar had a great piece looking at who might be the next Jarrod Dyson.

He also gave a peek behind the curtain as to what it’s like to be a credentialed reporter.

OMD got the chance to interview Rob Neyer about his new book, Power Ball. Parts One, Two, Three, and Four herelinked.

sterlingice gave a nice history of this weird and wonderful website.

Max Rieper wrote about the Royals signing Tarik El-Abour, believed to be first professional baseball player with autism.

The 2018 Off-season Simulation saw nearly a billion fake dollars to go Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

Thanks again for a great year!