Posnanski: The last game of the Royals’ championship era
From SABR member Joe Posnanski at Medium.com on October 1, 2017:
In all those trying years when the Kansas City Royals were but a blinking, barely visible blip on the Major League Baseball radar, old baseball fans around town would sometimes talk about the old days. “You wouldn’t believe it,” the conversations would begin, “but Kansas City used to be a baseball town.”
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These ridiculous, silly, painful but funny moments were all Kansas City Royals fans had for a very long time.
And then this group came along, this remarkable group that gave Kansas City baseball back.
Sunday was the end, though, In truth, the end had been coming for a long while. The Royals won back-to-back pennants in 2014 and 2015, they won the World Series in the second of those years, and that team had already scattered to the wind. The Royals unhittable bullpen, featuring Wade Davis and Greg Holland, had broken apart. The Royals starting pitchers in the 2015 World Series were Edinson Volquez (Marlins), Johnny Cueto (Giants), Chris Young (trying to get back to the big leagues) and the much-missed Yordano Ventura, who died tragically at age 25 this offseason.
The versatile Ben Zobrist was a key part of that team; he is with the Cubs now. The speedy Jarrod Dyson is with Seattle. Scattered to the wind.
But Sunday marked the real end because Sunday was perhaps the last Kansas City game for three Royals who changed the entire tone of Kansas City baseball.
Read the full article here: https://medium.com/joeblogs/the-last-game-563865431356
Originally published: October 2, 2017. Last Updated: October 2, 2017.