KC Royals: Some fun Royal facts after first 20 games

The KC Royals lead their division 20 games in. The fun extends to the stats.

“The first place KC Royals” has a nice ring to it. And after 20 games, that’s precisely where this Kansas City club finds itself after beating Detroit 4-0 Sunday and moving into position for a series sweep of the Tigers this afternoon.

It’s true. The Royals, 13-7, lead the American League Central by 1.5 games over Chicago, their 13 AL wins trail only Boston’s and Oakland’s 14, and their .650 winning percentage is the best in the league and second only to the Dodgers’ major league leading .682.

After some dreadful post-2015 seasons, the Royals being where they are today is a joy in and of itself. But several other fun facts and numbers highlight this season.

Take, for example, that 13-7 record the Royals own 20 games in. It’s the team’s best first 20-game effort since the World Series championship 2015 season when they were 14-6 after 20.

The 13 wins are the most Kansas City has posted in April since winning 15 times in that magical 2015 season. They took 14 April games in 2013 and 2014, but won only seven times in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and 12 times in 2016; last year’s short season obviously didn’t include April, but KC won 11 in August and 12 in September.

And how about the fact the KC Royals are six games above the .500 mark? They haven’t been that many games over .500 at any point of any season since 2017 when, on the way to an originally promising but ultimately disappointing campaign, they reached seven games above .500.

Kansas City managed to get to eight games over .500 in 2016 and two over in 2019, but never bettered .500 in 2018 or last year.

Now, let’s take a look at some other interesting team and individual tidbits.