Kansas City Royals Must Forget Blue October

It means nothing. It means everything.

With Spring Training reaching its halfway point, the Kansas City Royals have experienced all forms of success in Major League Baseball’s pre-season camp, achieving the best record through a series of come from behind rallies through the use of the Royal Treatment: piling on beaucoup runs in a single half inning, therefore demoralizing the opposing team’s pitching and defense. Need more clarification? I implore you to consult Jake Peavy.

But, it means nothing. In Spring, all players are tweaking, experimenting, or playing so loose that any positive or negative that can be found with our beloved Royals should be taken with a liberal amount of salt. The Arizona ground in spring must be taken literally, as routine ground outs become doubles; the dry air lubricates line drives.

For the Kansas City Royals, Spring Training has mostly been tweaking what “already worked,” getting the new, old guys familiar with the old, young guys, and amplifying the depth of the best bullpen in baseball.

And yet, it means everything. This team resurrected baseball love in Kansas City and gave a wonderful Cinderella angle to a sport that is constantly fighting for young viewership.

Pardon the routine excursion into the Land of Post-World Series Cliches: The Kansas City Royals broke their post-season rut of nearly three decades, parading through the ALDS and ALCS with Midwest swag, and were ninety feet away from tying up Game Seven against the Giants.

Royals fanatics everywhere collectively held the air in their lungs as Alex Gordon got to third base and remained there.

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The Kansas City Royals need to let that go. And we need to let that go. I won’t deny the World Series ended in a dramatic, albeit depressing, fashion that would have given Shakespeare fits of jealousy, but to be blunt, the Royals had ample opportunities in that game to even the score. Madison Bumgarner is the villain the Royals weren’t looking for nor deserved, but even he wasn’t present in Game Four’s shocking bullpen implosion.

It’s time to start fresh.

The Kansas City Royals of 2015 are built upon the same principles of the previous season, but anyone who follows baseball knows that every year is like waking up in Rip Van Winkle’s world; just ask the 2013 Giants or the 2014 Red Sox. You’re never the same team. And for the Royals, I believe this to be their biggest advantage.

The one thing the Royals can take away from the World Series is the very fact that they lost. A lack of satisfaction may push them to not only toy with first place for brief flashes, but hold onto it until the end of September and secure a spot in the ALDS.

The AL Central is no longer just a feeding trough for the Detroit Tigers to pile on wins, but actually a competitive division where even the Royals have a target on their backs. We wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s refreshing to see the Kansas City Royals begin 2015 right where they left off at the end of 2014, winning way more than losing. The additions of Alex Rios and Kendrys Morales are showcasing feats of power that, if translated into the regular season, will give the Royals the much needed offensive prowess that has evaded them the last two seasons. Mike Moustakas is proving his ability to hit opposite field and is only hitting .321 with one dinger in Spring Training; if history proves anything, Moose might be en route to a batting title.

Blue October is long over. The Kansas City Royals have unfinished business. To witness them succeed in Spring may not count for anything, but it certainly reminds Royals fans they have plenty to look forward to in 2015. And that means everything.

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