4 things that could thrill KC Royals fans in 2024

At least from a baseball perspective, the KC Royals and their fans won't mourn the end of 2023. It has been, after all, a rough year for both — the club avoided setting a new franchise record for losses only by beating the Yankees on the final day of the season, and the fanbase somehow survived a campaign lost almost as soon as it began.

Even after such a debacle of a season, though, there is hope for these Royals, and for once it's rooted not in overly optimistic puffing, but instead in concrete winter moves. After a quiet beginning to the offseason that increased the anxiety of followers fed up with losing, general manager J.J. Picollo reconstructed his club via an impressive collection of free agent signings and trades.

Those moves alone improve the outlook for a new season set to launch at Kauffman Stadium in late March; barring serious injuries to key players or an encore of some of the poor performances that drove the pitiful 2023 campaign, the Royals will be better and win more games. But aside from an improved record, what other things could excite KC fans in 2024?

Here are just a few.

A Bobby Witt Jr. extension could send Royals fans into a frenzy

So good is Bobby Witt Jr. that the cries for giving him a long-term contract extension began even before he played his first game in The Show. The clamor continues unabated today and failure this winter to secure Witt's services for years to come is sure to ignite a firestorm of fan anger.

Signing Witt to a new, bigger, and longer contract, on the other hand, will thrill Royals fans everywhere.

What else could excite them?