Kansas City Royals: Top Moments of 2017 Season

1.) “Core Four” Leave the Field Together

Placing this at No. 1 probably hinges on your definition of “top.” For us, this took the top spot because there is no single moment from the 2017 season that will be remembered more than this one.

Ned Yost made the absolute right decision to bring the four full-time starters who are entering free agency off at the same time. The group—Hosmer, Moustakas, Cain and Escobar—helped bring two pennants and a world championship to the Kansas City Royals.

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The players represent both groups of key contributors to the recent success. Cain and Escobar joined the organization through a trade—an avenue the organization shrewdly used to bolster the roster over the past several seasons. Hosmer and Moose, meanwhile, were high draft picks that panned out—something else the team succeed at for a good stretch.

It’s a foursome—along with other free agents—that changed the culture in Kansas City. No matter how many, if any, of the players return, the Royals fans will be better for having gotten to see the players one last time.

Some thought Yost would pull the players one-by-one to give them individual goodbyes. However, it’s more fitting that the group that grew up together exited the field together one last time.

Next: Royals Definitely Could Re-Sign Hosmer

It wasn’t the last image of the season, but it is the lasting one.