Royals Review - News for November 18, 2020

Want to watch some Royals baseball? Starting tonight with Brady Singer’s almost-no-hitter, FSKC will air some 2020 highlights:

FOX Sports Kansas City will air Kansas City Royals programming on Wednesday nights throughout the offseason.

Royals Warmup, a 30-minute baseball discussion show, returns this Wednesday (Nov. 18) at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. The debut episode includes an interview with Sr. VP-Baseball Operations/General Manager Dayton Moore and features the Royals television team of Ryan Lefebvre, Rex Hudler, Jeff Montgomery and Joel Goldberg.

FOX Sports Kansas City is also replaying the best games of 2020 on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. This week (Nov. 18), Brady Singer takes a no-hitter into the eighth inning as the Royals roll past Cleveland.

Speaking of FSKC, the Regional Sports Networks that Sinclair Media bought about a year ago might be rebranded via a corporate naming rights deal. Get ready to watch baseball on, like, FanDuel Sports Network Midwest.

Jesse Spector at Deadspin on how to fix the Royals:

What really needs fixing is the lineup, where the Royals seem to have forgotten that their previous success wasn’t just based on running a lot, but on doing it smartly. The 2020 Royals stole 49 bases, which is quite good, but did so in 69 attempts, a 71 percent success rate that is anything but nice. Nicky Lopez was 0-for-5, which… how?

Speaking of Kansas City hitting, here’s assistant GM J.J. Picollo answering questions from Alec Lewis at The Athletic:

So much of the hitters’ time was spent working with the hitting development department that the club formed a year ago. How would you assess those groups’ progress?

We’ve seen obvious and quick improvement in our players with how we’ve revamped how we go about preparing to hit and train, taking certain things from pregame work to the game. Just listening to the hitters talk, you can hear their excitement when they talk about hitting.

There’s an energy about their work with (hitting coordinator) Drew Saylor or (assistant hitting coordinator) Keoni De Renne or (hitting coaches) Andre David and Jesus Azuaje, and, of course, (director of hitting performance) Alec Zumwalt. There’s an excitement about it. And there’s an intellectual curiosity that’s being filled that I think our players really enjoy.

There’s a learning curve for us, too, because as much as we want to push forward, all of what we’re doing is not for every player. So which players do we need to back off? Which players are ready to move forward? By and large, I think it’s been outstanding.

Kevin O’Brien at Royals Reporter explores the idea of a full HDH reunion with the 2021 Royals.

Theo Epstein announced he will be stepping away from the Cubs’ front office. The Phillies are already rumored to be interested in wooing him.

Gregg Marshall is out as head coach at Wichita State following allegations of abuse.

NBA rumours:

Twitter introduced a new* feature called Fleets (FLEeting TwEETS). They might be “garbage,” but here’s how to do Fleets if you want to.

*except that all other social platforms already have Stories, posts that disappear in 24 hours. All of them.

Does the pandemic spell the end of casual hugging? On a related note, does anyone miss handshakes?

Prescriptions drugs via Amazon Prime.

Getting bigger wheels on your car eats into its fuel efficiency. Here’s how and why.

Walmart and cashback app Ibotta are offering a 100% rebate on items for a Thanksgiving meal for 5.

Dolly Parton helped fund research for a promising COVID-19 vaccine.

My hometown isn’t doing so hot, COVID-wise.

I want to talk about Season 4 of The Crown!!!!

SOTD: a guaranteed mood-booster, Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody.’