Kansas City Royals: A Season To Remember

Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

As the lights of Kauffman Stadium slowly crescendoed to a bright, buzzing, fluorescent filter over the delicate diamond that played host to so many distant and recent memories, dusk of the fifth of April approached. Groundskeepers and managers alike prepared themselves for the upcoming season and players readied themselves for a shot at redemption; for the last time that most of them walked off the field, the feeling of despair was accompanied by the drive for redemption.

After the heartbreak of Game 7 came the overwhelming sense of redemption and the drive to accomplish what they had been so close to the year prior.  The Kansas City Royals, their coaches and all of their fans gathered into Kauffman Stadium on the April 6th to witness the beginning of something special, the beginning of history.

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While so many fans still felt the heartbreak that ensued after the 2014 World Series loss, the KC Royals stepped onto the field ready to play; they walloped the unsuspecting White Sox on Opening Day by a score of 10-1; Mike Moustakas and Alex Rios both homered in that game and set a promising tone for the rest of the season.

The Kansas City Royals would eventually go on a 7-0 run and bring hope to their many fans around the world.  The hopes of going 162-0 were crushed when the Royals lost their 8th game of the season to the (who would prove to be pesky) Minnesota Twins, 3-1.

Just to give a sense of all of the changes that the team went through, the starting rotation in April read as follows: Yordano Ventura, Danny Duffy, Edinson Volquez, Jason Vargas and Jeremy Guthrie.  Of those five men, only Ventura and Volquez were still in the rotation as the regular season came to a close in Minnesota on October 4.

During the month of April, the KC Royals had lost their “star” right fielder, Alex Rios, to a broken hand that would sideline him until the end of May. By the end of April, the team was a dazzling 15-7 and lead the American League Central Division with a .5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers.  The Kansas City Royals were officially in business and of course, fans started to see a glimpse of the magic that would come.

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