Kansas City Royals Awards for the 2015 Season

Mandatory Credit: John Sleezer/Pool via USA TODAY Sports

September 24, 2015

Of all the memorable games that the Kansas City Royals had this season, there was really only one game that could rate as the Game of the Year. On September 24, 2015, in a 10-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners, the Royals ended thirty years of futility, coming away with their first American League Central title.

It was a game that featured everything that Royals fans could have hoped for. Johnny Cueto, the pitcher that many felt would be the final piece for a World Series title, pitched seven strong innings to earn the victory. Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer each homered, with Moustakas falling a triple short of the cycle. The much maligned Alex Rios was 3-5 with a triple and drove in two runs.

This game was much more than the Royals clinching the American League Central. It was a culmination of The Process, an emphatic statement that the Royals would not fade quietly away. Yes, they held the best record in the American League for the majority of the season, but it felt that, outside of the Kansas City area, that the Royals were never truly taken seriously. With this one victory, what had been an inevitable coronation finally occurred, giving the Royals another banner to raise.

Obviously, with the postseason still to play out, the hopes are that the Kansas City Royals will replace this game with their World Series winning performance for the most important game of the year. However, at this point, erasing thirty years of failure makes this the Game of the Year.

Next: Play of the Year