The 3 most exciting KC Royals moments of 2023

The great thing about baseball is that even in a season with 106 losses, there are still plenty of highlights. That's the beauty of a long season, and the 2023 KC Royals are proof of that.

It wasn't all bad for the 2023 KC Royals

Our list of the top three exciting moments of the 2023 season isn't meant to convince anyone that this season was a success in any sense. But narrowing down this list to three was harder than some might think.

Consider, for example, a few candidates that were left off. Salvador Perez became the 10th catcher in major league history to hit 200 home runs at the position and logged his 10,000th inning behind the plate. Catching prospects Logan Porter and Tyler Cropley made memorable debuts, and Samad Taylor announced his presence with a walk-off in his first major league game. The Royals even brought back the full powder blues on Opening Day!

Sure, none of our top three will go down in history like George Brett's 1980 ALCS home run off Goose Gossage or Eric Hosmer's mad dash home in the 2015 World Series—that's what happens when a club ties the franchise record for losses. But they gave Royals fans something to cheer for this summer, and that's not without value.

Keep in mind that this list is not authoritative. If you have a list of your own, Kings of Kauffman would love to hear about it it. Tell us about yours on X at @KingsofKauffman or on Facebook at Kings of Kauffman.

Here are our three positive moments that left a lasting impression from the 2023 season.

No. 3: Zack Greinke's final appearance?

Zack Greinke's final start of the season gets the No. 3 nod on our list.

Greinke's season surely did not go as he'd hoped. He finished 21 strikeouts shy of 3,000 for his career, and posted a 5.06 ERA, far worse than his 3.68 of 2022. Pitching win-loss records are not great indicators of individual performance, but a competitor like Greinke couldn't have been satisfied with his 2-15 mark.

He finished strong, however. On Sept. 26, he hurled five innings of one-hit ball with five strikeouts in a no-decision at Detroit. But it was his last start on the season's final day that will stick with us. More fans than attended the Tampa Bay Rays' wild card games came out to Kauffman Stadium to see what might have been Greinke's final outing on a big league mound.

Greinke delivered. He wasn't as dominant as in his previous start, but he threw five solid innings against the Yankees, scattering four hits, a run, and striking out two while picking up the win in a 5-2 victory. And he did it in the powder blues!

It remains to be seen if it was Greinke's last game. The Royals have been in discussions with him, and it feels like there's a pretty good chance he has one more chapter to write. But if this was the ending, it was a good way to go out. He even smiled when he got a standing ovation.

No. 2: The Royals trade for Cole Ragans

Former Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore hinted at the Royals becoming more transactional later in his tenure, but it never really came to fruition. The expectation was that this would change after J.J. Picollo took over baseball operations late in 2022. Following a quiet offseason that had fans fearing business as usual, Picollo made some moves in 2023.

The early results were mixed. The less said about the Nicky Lopez-Taylor Hearn deal, the better. But two of those trades already look like steals. Nelson Velázquez provided a big bat to the Royals' lineup and Cole Ragans immediately became a top pitcher.

Picollo signed Aroldis Chapman as a reclamation project during the relatively quiet offseason, but he was meant to be dealt from day one. He pitched well, too, so the expectation of a high return was there, and came to fruition when the club traded Chapman to Texas and picked up Ragans as part of the deal. Ragans, who had posted a 2-3 record and 5.92 ERA in 17 games with the Rangers, barely moved the needle for most Royals fans when the deal was announced in late June.

But Ragans was electric for Kansas City, going 5-2 with a 2.64 ERA, 1.074 WHIP, and 89 strikeouts to 27 walks in 12 games. In August, he was named AL Pitcher of the Month, and despite pitching less than half the season in Kansas City, was named the club's Bruce Rice Pitcher of the Year. He immediately moved to the top of the rotation and has to be considered the favorite for Opening Day starter in 2024. Most importantly, he gave Royals fans a compelling reason to watch the team every fifth day. No small feat for a 106-loss team.