Gosh, when I first wrote this five years ago we were all in shock at the sudden decline after 2015.

The 2017 post, lightly edited.

The Royals have been my American League team since 1969. They are now 4010-4362.

I used to have a Moe Drabowsky jersey.

I am a veteran of bad baseball. My high school has been awful for years. (Update: went to one game at my high school this year, 2022. They were run ruled and committed seven errors in five innings.)

My college has actually dropped baseball.

So I have experienced some truly awful baseball since 1969 off and on, as well as attended many horrible local games.

How do you live with a bad team?

1. Get some emotional distance. You are not failing. Some professional entertainers who wear a city's name are.

Pliny the younger:

I am the more astonished that so many thousands of grown men should be possessed again and again with a childish passion to look at galloping horses, and men standing upright in their chariots. If, indeed, they were attracted by the swiftness of the horses or the skill of the men, one could account for this enthusiasm. But in fact it is a bit of cloth they favour, a bit of cloth that captivates them. And if during the running the racers were to exchange colours, their partisans would change sides, and instantly forsake the very drivers and horses whom they were just before recognizing from afar, and clamorously saluting by name. (translated by William Melmoth, H. A. Harris, Sport in Greece and Rome [Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972], 220-21)

2. Relax and enjoy the game. Have a beer. Admire the physically fit athletes and the attractive people around you.

3. Keep score. It makes any game more interesting. If you have forgotten how, or never learned, read rule 9.

I also recommend Wirkmaa, Baseball Scorekeeping, and Dickson, The Joy of Keeping Score.

While you are at it, teach a kid to keep score. You can make a lifetime fan. Use paper. The score keeping apps are fine for official scoring, but fans should use paper.

4. If you wish, ignore the game in the evening and just carefully examine the box score the next morning.

5. Pick a player and learn all their stats.

6. Go to some little league, high school, or college games. It will remind you of why you love baseball.

7. Listen to the radio broadcast rather than watching tv. Baseball on tv is frankly boring. It only really has news value. Baseball on the radio is magic.