Bret Saberhagen has a good case for the title of best pitcher in Royals history. Two Cy Young awards, a World Series MVP award, lowest WHIP in team history, and best ERA of any starter in team history is an impressive resume. And 25 years ago Friday, he capped that resume with the fourth, and still […]
Author: Darin Watson
A Look At The Royals’ (And Other Contenders’) Remaining Schedule–Part II
Back at the All-Star break, I took a look at each American League playoff contenders’ strength of schedule the rest of the way. For a long time there, I didn’t expect to be updating it this year, but here we are. In one week, the Royals have gone from “let’s see what the prospects can […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year Of The Card–Mike Sweeney, 2002
As you might expect from a franchise that has spent 44 seasons in spacious Royals/Kauffman Stadium, the Royals don’t really have a lot of eye-popping offensive single seasons. Of course, George Brett has the most famous, and probably the best, with his .390/.454/.664 numbers in 1980. Brett did it again in 1985, going .335/.436/.585 to […]
The Royals’ Fifth Starter Problem
It’s never too early to look ahead to the offseason, at least not when your team is below .500 in mid-August. The Royals have lots of things to fix this winter: a popgun offense, a suddenly leaky bullpen, and a subpar rotation. I do think that some of the offensive problems will fix themselves; I […]
The 1985-86 And 2015-16 Royals: A Comparison
Last year, or perhaps more accurately, last winter, the big question was how did the 2015 Royals compare to the other World Series winner in team history, the 1985 edition. No less an authority than George Brett declared the 2015 team the better of the two. I’m not so sure; the 1985 team’s starting rotation […]
Recap: Rays 3, Royals 2; Sunk In Tampa Bay
You can look at this game in two ways. With the two lowest-scoring teams in the American League hooking up in a 12:10 local time start, runs were likely going to be few and far between. Or, you could credit the pitchers in this game (well, most of them; more on that shortly) for doing […]
A Fans’ Guide To Playing Out The String
And now we enter the toughest part of the season. For Royals fans, the trade deadline was a dud. Heck, the whole month of July was a dud. Now that we’re into August, there are only two months left in the season. No one* could have imagined the Royals’ season turning out this way, but […]
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love (The Idea Of) A Wade Davis Trade
It’s funny how things work sometimes. On the morning of December 10, 2012, I headed out of town on a business trip. Despite the timing, sports talk radio that morning could only discuss one topic: the Royals’ trade of Wil Myers to Tampa Bay for James Shields the day before. The radio guys seemed stunned. […]
Diamonds In The Rough 7-24-16
Royals affiliates showed plenty of offense on the day, and went 4-3. The Dominican Summer League team had the day off. HR Roll Call: David Edwards (5), Nathan Esposito (1), Mike Hill (6), Ben Johnson (5), Travis Maezes (11), Meibrys Viloria (6) BPKC Hitter of the Day – Meibrys Viloria, 3-5, 2B, HR, 3 RBI […]
U.L.’s Toothpick: The Year Of The Card–Bob Oliver, 1970
I’d be interested to know how many members of the 1969 Royals still hold team records. It has to be a small number, both because that was many years ago and because that team, being an expansion team and all, had a dearth of players good enough to set a franchise record that might survive. […]