Kings of Kauffman Presents: 2014 Royals Awards

Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

The Royals’ playoff run has really thrown off my timing. Normally I have a few weeks to reminisce about the season before turning my attention to free agency, the Rule 5 Draft, and all the other fun stuff that happens in the offseason. But with the Royals playing in the World Series, the turnaround time has been much shorter, and teams are already making trades before I’ve even had a chance to recap everything that happened this year.

My mind still hasn’t fully grasped that the Royals just finished playing games a week ago and now it’s November 7. I feel completely out of sorts. Baseball teams can be so focused on winning that they don’t consider the impact it has on the mental state of poor bloggers like me. How rude.

Anyway, we’ve started hearing rumors about who the Royals may be pursuing this winter, and we’ll have plenty of time to focus on the offseason in the coming weeks. But first, I wanted to put a bow on the 2014 season by handing out the very prestigious Kings of Kauffman Awards. By “prestigious,” I of course mean “the electronic equivalent of a gold star.” We’re on a tight budget, so we couldn’t afford any actual gold stars, so some written words will have to suffice.

I asked the rest of the KoK staff for their votes on the Royals Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Play of the Year, and Game of the Year. I wanted to focus the voting on the regular season, so it’s kind of like the rest of the real awards handed out, except without the real award. I compiled the ballots into a spreadsheet and used a calculator to confirm the totals. It’s a complicated process, but one I felt compelled to complete. I’ll present the top few vote-getters before announcing the winner. I’m sure the anticipation is killing you, so let’s get right to it.