Fifty years ago this week, the Royals participated in the 1968 expansion draft with their fellow new franchises, the Seattle Pilots (you now know them as the Milwaukee Brewers), San Diego Padres, and Montreal Expos (and you now know them as the Washington Nationals). While many players on expansion teams are quickly forgotten, Kansas City managed to snag a few names I think most Royals fans would recognize even now. One of them was even a future Hall of Famer, although he never played for the Royals. Several other players were later traded for some of the really big names in team history, although for the most part the Royals got the best of both worlds from those guys: good performance in Kansas City, then dealt for even better talent. All in all, the 1968 expansion draft was the springboard for the Royals’ excellent showing in the 1970s.

The American League portion of the draft proceeded on October 15 in Boston (the two National League teams picked their players the day before). Seattle won the coin toss for the first pick, but elected to give the Royals first choice so they would have the second and third overall picks. The Royals used that first selection on pitcher Roger Nelson of the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore had made a calculated risk, feeling that the Royals and Pilots would look for catchers early on and therefore Nelson, who had been injured for some of the 1968 season but was definitely pencilled into the 1969 rotation, could be left unprotected and then added to the protected list after the first round of the draft. But the Royals instead had drafted a pitcher who would post a 3.31 ERA in 193 1/3 innings in 1969, and a 2.08 ERA in 173 1/3 innings in 1972.

“I couldn’t believe Baltimore would let me go in the draft. I was told when the season ended that I would be the number four starter. I was working when I was drafted. A friend told me about it. Although I was surprised, I’m very happy to be with the Royals.”—Nelson, quoted by Joe McGuff, The Sporting News, February 15, 1969

As a footnote, that first pick could have involved a much bigger name than Nelson: Mickey Mantle. The great Yankee was at the end of his career following the 1968 season, although he hadn’t officially retired when the existing teams had to submit their lists of protected players a mere 48 hours after the World Series ended. Mantle had hit just .237 in 1968, but he still smacked 18 home runs and walked 106 times. His slugging percentage of .398 doesn’t sound that great to modern ears, but keep in mind the league average was .339. And of course, he was probably the most famous baseball player in America at the time.

The Yankees didn’t want to protect Mantle without knowing if he would play in 1969. They even went to American League president Joe Cronin for help, and Cronin persuaded Seattle and Kansas City that it would be just terrible for the game of baseball if Mantle ever played in anything but pinstripes. The two new teams were willing to go along with it until other teams heard about the Yankees basically getting an extra protected player spot. On top of that, the league changed the draft rules, saying players serving in the military were also protected. This really helped the Yankees, who had left a prospect named Bobby Murcer unprotected while he was in the service. Kansas City had been very interested in selecting Murcer, who was eventually Mantle’s replacement in center field and had a very nice career. When the rules changed, the Royals started making noise about drafting Mantle, with manager Joe Gordon saying they would be “foolish” not to take him if they could. Mantle had played in Kansas City when the Yankees’ top farm team was located there, and now the Royals were possibly interested in bringing him back to KC as the face of the franchise. Charlie Metro, then the Royals’ director of player procurement, would later say that owner Ewing Kauffman wanted to pick Mantle with the team’s first pick and offer him a two-year, $200,000 deal. But Mantle, or someone claiming to be Mantle, sent the Royals and Pilots a telegram saying, “If you draft me I will not report and in all probability will retire.” Eventually Kauffman decided not to risk it, despite Metro’s pleading even on the day of the draft, and neither team selected Mantle. It may not have mattered, as Mantle retired during spring training 1969 anyway, but for a while it looked like one of the all-time greats would be an original Royal.

Anyway, Kansas City’s second pick (and fourth overall) was third baseman Joe Foy from the Boston Red Sox. Foy had an interesting reaction, blasting Boston manager Dick Williams:

“(He’s) a two-faced sneak. He takes pleasure in hurting people. He thinks that will make them better ballplayers. Well, I’ve got news for him. I expect to be a much better player with a new club.”—Foy, quoted by Larry Claflin, The Sporting News, October 26, 1968

Foy was true to his word, hitting .262/.354/.370 for the 1969 Royals after hitting .225/.336/.326 for Boston. But his place in Royals history is really as the main piece in a trade with the Mets following the 1969 season. In return, the Royals received Amos Otis. Foy struggled with alcoholism (in fact, a drunk driving arrest in 1968 helped convince the Red Sox they could live without him) and was out of baseball by 1972, while Otis would become one of the best players in Royals history.

The Royals’ draft strategy was obviously to concentrate on pitching, as five of their first eight picks were hurlers. But they went away from that to select first baseman Mike Fiore from Baltimore with their ninth pick and outfielder/first baseman Bob Oliver with their 10^th. Fiore had one really good season in the majors—the 1969 one, when he hit .274/.420/.428 in 426 plate appearances. He was traded early in the 1970 season but not before giving the Royals 3.1 WARP in 132 games. Meanwhile, Oliver would be the team’s first slugger, hitting 13 home runs in 1969 and then 27 in 1970, which was the franchise record until John Mayberry broke it in 1975. Oliver was traded early in the 1972 season, but he was worth 2.9 WARP in 422 games for Kansas City.

The next two picks were used on players who maybe aren’t as well-known, but they did have an impact. Pitcher Bill Butler (not to be confused with ol’ Country Breakfast Billy Butler) led the 1969 staff in strikeouts. And outfielder Steve Whitaker never played a game for the Royals—he would be traded to Seattle the following spring for Lou Piniella. Whitaker was done as a major-leaguer in 1970, while Piniella would be the 1969 Rookie of the Year and Kansas City’s first star.

With the lucky 13^th pick, the Royals selected Wally Bunker, another Baltimore pitcher. Bunker would throw the first pitch in Royals history as the starter on Opening Day 1969, and was the team’s best pitcher that year (12-11, 3.23 ERA). Unfortunately, he got hurt the next year and was never the same. They followed that pick with the selection of Paul Schaal, who is mostly famous among Royals fans for being the guy George Brett replaced at third base. But Schaal was no slouch himself, hitting .263/.360/.368 for the Royals before being traded early in the 1974 season. The pick after Schaal was pitcher Dick Drago, who pitched five seasons for Kansas City, never failing to reach 200 innings in any of those seasons. He won 17 games in 1971, and 61 in his Royals career. And then he was dealt to Boston for Marty Pattin (who had been selected by Seattle in this expansion draft), a trade that helped both teams as each player became a fine reliever. With their 16^th pick, Kansas City took outfielder Pat Kelly from Minnesota. Kelly led the 1969 Royals with 40 stolen bases and hit .264/.348/.388 that year. He gave the Royals 3.6 WARP in two seasons before being traded and having a nice run with the Orioles.

After a couple of picks who didn’t amount to much of anything (one was Topeka native and Kansas City Northeast High School graduate Don O’Riley), the Royals shored up their bullpen by choosing Al Fitzmorris from the White Sox and Moe Drabowsky from the Orioles (the Royals wisely mined Baltimore’s roster for pitching; the Orioles had so much pitching depth they could lose four pitchers to expansion and still lead the league in ERA in 1969). After years in the bullpen, Fitzmorris joined the Royals’ rotation in 1974, winning 13 games. He followed that with 16 wins in 1975 and helped the Royals capture their first division title with 15 wins in 1976. Drabowsky was a bit of a departure from the Royals’ strategy of selecting young pitchers; at age 33, he led the 1969 team with 11 saves and also picked up 11 wins in relief before being dealt back to Baltimore in 1970.

The quest to build a bullpen continued after the Royals chose shortstop Jackie Hernandez with their 21^st pick, as the next three picks were all relievers: Mike Hedlund, Tom Burgmeier, and Hoyt Wilhelm. Hedlund and Burgmeier were young, but Wilhelm was 45 years old when the Royals picked him and had broken Cy Young’s record for career pitching appearances during the 1968 season.

“I consider it an honor that Kansas City would draft me. I also was a little bit surprised that anybody would take a chance on me at my age.”—Wilhelm, quoted by Paul Cox, The Sporting News, November 9, 1968

But the knuckleball specialist, who would make the Hall of Fame and retire as the only man to pitch in 1,000 games in the majors (although that mark has fallen, he is still sixth on the all-time list), would never pitch for the Royals. Two months after the expansion draft, he was traded to California for Ed Kirkpatrick and Dennis Paepke. It was a good trade for the Royals, as Kirkpatrick hit 56 home runs over the next five years while playing every position except pitcher and shortstop.

The Royals had five more picks, but only one of them was a major contributor to the team. That was catcher Fran Healy, who would be traded away after the 1970 season, then traded back to Kansas City after the 1972 season. From 1973-1975, he hit .260/.338/.377 in 290 games before being traded to the Yankees for Larry Gura, who of course was a big part of the Royals’ run of division titles in the late 1970s.

So, how did the Royals do? After the draft, general manager Cedric Tallis was optimistic, to say the least.

“The scouts told me that we had the better selections.”—Tallis, quoted by Larry Claflin, The Sporting News, October 26, 1968.

“I can’t think of anything we’d do differently if we had to do it all over again,”—Tallis, quoted by Joe McGuff, The Sporting News, November 9, 1968

“I still believe we’re going to surprise a lot of people. I think we have a chance to finish as high as third in our division. I feel we did as well as we could possibly hope to do in the expansion draft. I realize Seattle probably feels the same way, but when I look at the arms we have and see what our kids are doing in the Florida Instructional League, I can’t help but feel enthusiastic.”— Tallis—quoted by Joe McGuff, The Sporting News, November 9, 1968

Tallis was not far off on that prediction. The 1969 Royals finished fourth in the six-team AL West, but only two games behind California. They had a better record than their expansion brothers in Seattle, as well as the established White Sox and Indians. The 25 players the Royals drafted who appeared in a Royals uniform in 1969 totalled 16.9 WARP, and if you include Kirkpatrick, Paepke, and Piniella, you can add another 6.4 to that total. Since, in the WARP formula, a team full of replacement players would win just over 50 games, the Royals should have won around 74 games. But they only won 69.

The main problem was depth; the other 11 players the Royals used totalled -2.0 WARP. It makes sense—the Royals were able to select major leaguers in the expansion draft, but had to scrape up most of the other players through the Rule 5 draft, minor trades, or outright purchasing them from other teams. The worst player on the roster was infielder Juan Rios, who had a -1.2 WARP in just 208 plate appearances. He was purchased from the Expos late in spring training; Montreal had chosen him in the Rule 5 draft from the Mets. Rios hit .224/.262/.276. Even by the low offensive standards for middle infielders at the time, that was terrible, and Rios never played in the majors again. Really, the whole middle infield was a problem: second baseman Jerry Adair had -0.9 WARP, and shortstop Jackie Hernandez had -0.3.

The Royals concentrated on pitching, and got a solid rotation out of it. Nelson, Bunker, Butler, Drago, and Jim Rooker combined for 7.5 WARP. Drabowsky (1.6) and Hedlund (0.7) were a good bullpen tandem, but not surprisingly the middle relief was also an issue, as no one else made much of a contribution.

The front office Ewing Kauffman put together, from Tallis on down to the small army of scouts, did a tremendous job in the expansion draft. To this day, the 1969 Royals had the second-best record of any expansion team in their first season. When that was followed up with shrewd trades and good draft picks, the Royals quickly became competitive and then began winning division titles soon after. Although nearly every 1969 Royal was elsewhere by the time that first title was won in 1976, the seeds of that championship were planted in a hotel ballroom in Boston eight years earlier.

That’s a bold claim, you might respond. I answer with the Game Score stat.

You’re familiar with Game Score, yes? Devised by Bill James, it is a stat to determine a starting pitcher’s effectiveness in a single game. While it is somewhat of a “quick and dirty” method, in general it works to give us a good idea of just how well a pitcher did in any game. The formula is simple: start with 50 points, add one point for each out, one point for each strikeout, and two points for each inning completed after the fourth. Then subtract one point for each walk, two points for each hit, two points for each unearned run, and four points for each earned run. A Game Score of 100 is exceptional, a Game Score of 90 is terrific, and the proverbial “quality start” is probably going to be between 50-60 points.

In Royals history, the highest Game Score ever is a 98, achieved by Dick Drago in 1972. It was a much different time: Drago worked 11 innings before allowing a run in the 12th. Unfortunately, that cost him the game, as the Royals lost 1-0. The second-highest Game Score in team history is a game most of you will recall: Danny Duffy striking out 16 Tampa Bay hitters in 2016 for a 95.

Next on the list is a 93 by Appier in 1995. That was pretty dominant: he shut out California on three hits and struck out 13 hitters. Roger Nelson also got a 93 in a 1972 game against Boston, striking out nine and allowing one hit. But those 1972 games were played without the designated hitter—that rule came into effect in 1973.

There are two 92 Game Scores on the list, one by Bret Saberhagen in 1987 and Jim Colborn’s no-hitter in 1977 (if you’re wondering, Saberhagen’s 1991 no-hitter comes in at 90—he only had five strikeouts and walked two batters).

And then there’s the game in question here: a Game Score of 91 for Appier on July 27, 1993. Fun fact: Appier actually had two Game Scores of 91 as a Royal. And he lost both times by a 1-0 score. The first one was a 10-inning loss to Cleveland in 1992, but he only had four strikeouts. It’s the second one of those games that we should examine more closely.

July 27 was a typical Kansas City summer day, with a forecast of 91 degrees and a slight chance of rain. That was a welcome break from the rain that had been falling in the area—and really, all of the Midwest—most of the spring and summer. Many parts of Kansas City and the surrounding areas, especially Parkville, were either flooded already or desperately piling up sandbags to limit potential flooding. Meanwhile, the Royals were trying to keep pace with Chicago in the AL West race, along with their opponents in this game, the Texas Rangers. An earlier rainout had been rescheduled as part of a July 26 doubleheader between the two teams; the Royals won both games to move to 1.5 games behind the White Sox, while Texas sat four games back of Chicago. This was now a rare five-game series, and with one of their aces on the mound, the Royals had a chance to open up more room between themselves and the Rangers.

Appier began the game with a groundout, then struck out the next two hitters. He collected two more strikeouts in the second, sandwiched around a lineout to third baseman Phil Hiatt. Then he got two more strikeouts in the third, accompanied by another groundout. That was nine up, nine down, six strikeouts, and no balls out of the infield so far.

It was apparent Appier could do something special on this night. But would the Royals ever score?

That was always a question when Appier was on the mound, it seemed like. In 1990, the Royals scored two or fewer runs in eight of his 24 starts. In 1991, they scored two or fewer runs in nine of his 31 starts. And in 1992, they scored two or fewer runs in 14 of his 30 starts, which is probably where the notion that the Royals never scored for Appier comes from. In 1993, it was back to a more reasonable nine of 34 starts. Of course, this particular Royals team would finish last in the AL in runs scored in 1993, so it was a fair question.

Anyway, Rangers starter and Royals nemesis Kenny Rogers was working out of trouble. Kansas City had a great scoring chance in the second, when Gary Gaetti led off with a double that missed clearing the wall by perhaps a foot. Kevin McReynolds singled with one out, but Gaetti stopped at third. Hiatt struck out and Jose Lind grounded out, ending the inning.

The Royals collected two-out singles in both the fourth and fifth innings, but nothing came of them. Meanwhile, Appier had retired 15 straight hitters, with a fly ball to short center to end the fifth the only ball hit out of the infield. Eight of those 15 hitters had struck out.

Appier continued to dominate as the sixth inning began, striking out Doug Strange for the first out. But Dan Peltier drew a walk, ending the perfect game. Trying to get something started, Peltier took off for second on the first pitch to the next hitter. Catcher Mike Macfarlane fired a strike to second to cut down Peltier, one of four times he would be caught stealing that year without ever being successful. Appier kept the no-hitter going by getting Mario Diaz for the final out.

The Rangers could only manage two groundouts to start the seventh. Rafael Palmeiro stepped to the plate, took one pitch for ball one, and then threw a slider to Palmeiro…

“I was not trying to hit the ball out of the park. I was just trying to hit it somewhere.”—Palmeiro, quoted by the Associated Press, July 28, 1993

It was not a long home run, but it was still a home run. The ball landed in the Royals’ bullpen in right field and Texas had a 1-0 lead.

“The guy gave up one hit, you can’t say any pitch he threw was a mistake. He was hitting my glove all night. I didn’t have to move it.”—Macfarlane, quoted by Jonathan Rand, Kansas City Star, July 28, 1993

Now the pressure was on the Royals’ offense. Gaetti started the seventh with a single, and McReynolds singled with one out to move Gaetti to second. Hiatt hit a line drive headed for right field, but Strange made a leaping catch, then threw to second to double off Gaetti. The scoring threat was over and it was on to the eighth inning.

Appier again set the Rangers down in order in the eighth. The Royals got a two-out single by Greg Gagne in the bottom of the eighth, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double.

In the ninth, Appier got three quick outs, striking out Manny Lee for the second out of the inning and his 11^th K of the night. As he walked off the mound after the third out, the crowd of 22,415 rose for a standing ovation.

“It was nice what they did, showing their appreciation. I was uncomfortable coming out when we were behind like that. But I recognized what they were doing.”—Appier, quoted by Rand

The Royals had one more chance. Gaetti singled with two outs in the ninth, and the Rangers turned to closer Tom Henke. Pinch-hitter Wally Joyner grounded out and it was official: Appier had struck out 11, allowed one hit, and lost.

“It’s hard to say if it’s the best game I’ve ever thrown because we lost. I felt in control the whole night. It was frustrating for all of us to lose.”—Appier, quoted by Jeffrey Flanagan, Kansas City Star, July 28, 1993

Appier had been very efficient, throwing just 108 pitches. He had faced one batter over the minimum, and lowered his season ERA to 2.92 in the process.

“I do recognize I threw a good game. It wasn’t good enough. I’m bummed for that.”—Appier, quoted by Rand.

“I’ve seen some great performances over the years by some great pitchers, including Doc Gooden, and that’s right at the top. Any time you can strike out 11 and do it economically you just hope he can find some solace and feel good about it tonight, then carry it over to his next start.”—Royals pitcher David Cone, quoted by Rand

Appier actually got bombed in his next outing, allowing seven runs—five earned—in just two innings. But he finished at least seven innings in 10 of his 11 remaining starts, finishing the year with an 18-8 record and leading the league with a 2.56 ERA. He finished third in the Cy Young voting.

Given the strength of the Texas lineup, which featured Julio Franco (2,586 major league hits), Juan Gonzalez (434 career home runs), and Palmeiro (3,020 major league hits), I’d argue that this outing was more impressive than Duffy’s 16-strikeout one. And just think, had Palmeiro’s home run just bounced off the wall and the Rangers remained scoreless, Appier’s Game Score would have been 95, tied with Duffy for second-best in team history.

Then again, if Appier had pitched a one-hit shutout and won, I wonder if we would even remember this game. Something about pitching so well and still losing, giving one’s absolute best and not getting rewarded, seems to strike a chord with people. It’s unfortunate, but maybe it’s good that it helps us remember this game, which does get my vote as the most dominant pitching performance in Royals history.

Instead, I found a few cases in Royals history where the team made what turned out to be a good decision, only to not reap the benefits. In these cases, the Royals picked a high school player who decided to go to college instead of signing. To me, those are more interesting scenarios. And sure, maybe these players wouldn’t have developed in the Royals’ system. And yes, every team can point to similar situations that might have changed their fortunes. But these are just for fun, and the great thing about these is there are no wrong answers.

Scott Sanderson, 1974 (11th Round)

Sanderson was a high school pitcher in the Chicago suburbs when Kansas City drafted him. He chose to go to Vanderbilt instead. In 1977, Montreal selected Sanderson in the third round, and he was in the majors by the end of the 1978 season. In the six years before he would have been a free agent (and thus the years the Royals would have been assured of his services), he had a 56-47 record and 3.33 ERA in 883 innings. He was a dependable starter, and the only major injury he suffered in those years was a torn thumb ligament in 1983, which he suffered while running the bases (he turned an ankle and fell down, injuring himself by putting his hand out to break his fall). Since that wouldn’t have been a concern in the American League, you could pencil him in for 32 starts as a 1983 Royal in this hypothetical.

I think Sanderson would have helped the Royals win the AL West in 1979. The team had trouble finding reliable starting pitching to round out the Larry Gura/Dennis Leonard/Paul Splittorff trio. Putting Sanderson (who went 9-8 with a 3.43 ERA in 1979) in there would move Rich Gale (9-10, 5.65 ERA) to the fifth spot. Kansas City finished three games behind California, so a rotation upgrade probably would have made the difference.

In 1980, the Royals won the AL West comfortably, and it’s hard to say one pitcher could make a huge difference in the small sample size of a World Series. Gale did start two of the six games in that Series, but he got lifted early in both. Does Sanderson do better? Possibly.

Sanderson also might have helped the Royals to the 1982 AL West title. Once again, the Royals finished three games behind California, and once again rotation problems hurt them. Dennis Leonard missed two months with an injury, and Bud Black and Dave Frost combined for 28 starts and a 5.17 ERA in them. Meanwhile, Sanderson went 12-12 with a 3.46 ERA in Montreal.

Frank Viola, 1978 (16th Round)

In this case, I feel certain that had the Royals signed their pick, there would be more flags flying at Kauffman Stadium. That’s because after Viola, who hailed from Long Island, turned them down to attend St. John’s University in New York, he was picked by the Twins in 1981. He reached the majors the next season and became a star in 1984, going 18-12 with a 3.21 ERA. From 1984-1988, he won 93 games capping off that stretch with the 1988 Cy Young Award. Now, Viola probably wasn’t enough to get the Royals past Detroit in the 1984 ALCS. And things went south in 1986; one pitcher wasn’t overcoming that. But in 1987, the Royals finished just two games behind…Viola’s Minnesota Twins. The problem with that Royals team was offense, not pitching, but taking Viola away from the Twins and putting him on the Royals would seem to easily be a two-game swing at least. The Twins pulled off upsets of Detroit and St. Louis to win the World Series; with the pitching the Royals would have had in this scenario, they could have done the same thing. Imagine dealing with your Cardinal fan friends, family, co-workers if the Royals had defeated St. Louis twice in the World Series in three years.

Will Clark, 1982 (4th Round)

This one hurts a little. OK, a lot. Losing out on a 11^th or 16^th round pick isn’t that bad. But this one is a double whammy in lost pick value (other notable Royals fourth-round picks: Mike Macfarlane, Bo Jackson, David DeJesus) and the fact Clark could have provided some much-needed offense to the late 1980s Royals teams. Clark was picked out of Jesuit High School in New Orleans but instead went to Mississippi State. The Giants picked him in 1985 and he was in the majors in 1986, finishing fifth in the Rookie of the Year vote. The next year he finished fifth in the MVP vote. Add Clark’s .308/.371/508 line in 1987 to that Royals team and they probably finish ahead of the Twins (and if you add Viola to that team…whew). You might wonder where Clark would fit in that lineup. I assume George Brett would have been moved to DH instead of first base (where he played most of 1987 to make room for Kevin Seitzer). Royals DHs hit .215/.289/.411 that year, which includes Brett hitting .288/.370/.600 in 21 games as the DH. In a word, woof.

The 1988 Royals finished a long ways behind Oakland, but in 1989 they finished seven games back of the A’s. Clark was the NL MVP runner-up that year, hitting .333/.407/.546. Meanwhile, Royals DHs hit a pedestrian .250/.315/.386. It’s hard for one player to make up a seven-game difference…but Clark was credited with 8.3 WARP in 1989. It would have been a much closer race, I think it’s safe to say. Clark would not have made a difference in the Royals’ overall fortunes the next few years before he would have become a free agent, but perhaps he could have fetched a nice return in a trade.

Deion Sanders, 1985 (6th Round)

A year before the Royals drafted Bo Jackson, they went with another two-sport star. I suppose they figured Willie Wilson had worked out well, so why not try another exceptionally fast guy? They probably had plenty of scouting opportunities, as Sanders attended high school in Fort Myers, Florida, which was Kansas City’s spring training home at the time. Of course, Sanders decided to go play football at Florida State. Unlike Jackson, Sanders seemed to prefer football, so he only played 100 games in a season once. Despite a slow start, he turned into a decent baseball player. It’s hard to pinpoint a season where he would have made a huge difference—the closest the Royals came to first place in his first six seasons was the strike-shortened 1994 season. But it would have been really interesting to have the two most famous two-sport stars on the same team.

Jon Gray, 2010 (13th Round)

Had Gray signed with the Royals when he was drafted in 2010, he’d likely be a Royal right now. Instead, he went to junior college and then the University of Oklahoma, and then the Rockies drafted him. His first full season in the majors was 2016, when he went 10-10 with a 4.61 ERA, although his underlying numbers were good enough for 2.0 WARP. The 2016 Royals gave Chris Young 14 starts and got -1.4 WARP. They gave Dillon Gee 13 starts and got -0.3 WARP. Put Gray in there instead and you get a net gain of 3.7 WARP. The Royals finished eight games out of a wild-card spot…but they also really faltered down the stretch. Would a relatively young, fresh arm have helped? I think so.

And in 2017, when Gray went 10-4 with a 3.67 ERA, that depth would have been welcome. With Gray on board, maybe the Royals aren’t tempted to trade for Trevor Cahill and Brandon Maurer. That move seemed like a good idea at the time, but their ineffectiveness helped torpedo the Royals’ season. Gray suffered a foot injury last April but was back in the rotation by late June, helping the Rockies make the wild-card game.

Unfortunately, we will never have answers to these scenarios. We can only hope that no one the Royals select in this week’s draft will be “the one that got away” in the future.

The 1984 Royals captured a surprising division title with several young pitchers (Mark Gubicza, Danny Jackson, and Bret Saberhagen leading the way). Frankly, they weren’t that good as a team—an 84-win squad that was outscored on the season. But those pitchers were promising. A veteran catcher might help them become special. Enter Jim Sundberg.

James Howard Sundberg was born on May 18, 1951, in Galesburg, Illinois. After graduating from Galesburg High School, he was drafted by Oakland in the sixth round of the 1969 amateur draft. However, he spurned the A’s and headed off to the University of Iowa. Three years later, Texas drafted him in the eighth round of the draft, but Sundberg decided to stay in school for one more year. The Rangers were undeterred; they picked him again in the 1973 January draft. This time, with no college career left, Sundberg signed with Texas. When he hit .298/.421/.417 at Class AA Pittsfield that year, he was immediately on the radar of Rangers manager Billy Martin. And so it was not a surprise that on Opening Day 1974, Sundberg was behind the plate.

Texas had lost 105 games in 1973, firing Whitey Herzog and hiring Martin in the process. But in 1974, they finished a respectable 84-76, just five games behind Oakland. Sundberg hit .247/.354/.323 and impressed everyone with his defense.

“Frankly, I think we’re going to have one of the best catchers in baseball for years to come. And the other teams in this league know that as well as I do. They respect that arm already. No team is going to take any base-stealing liberties with him.”—Martin, quoted by Randy Galloway in The Sporting News, June 22, 1974

He finished fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting, behind teammate Mike Hargrove, Bucky Dent, and some guy named George Brett. He also made the All-Star team, although he didn’t get to appear in the game.

The next two seasons were offensive struggles for Sundberg, as he hit just .213/.284/283 combined. But the Rangers kept running him out there nearly every day (he caught 155 games in 1975, starting 148 of them). The defense was too good to ignore—he threw out 46% of would-be basestealers in 1975 and became the first AL catcher since the 1940s to have more than 100 assists in a season. He won his first Gold Glove in 1976.

When Sundberg’s offense bounced back in 1977 (a .291/.365/.389 line), he received some MVP votes and another Gold Glove. In 1978, he again finished 15th in the MVP vote, won another Gold Glove, and made the All-Star team again, this time getting to catch three innings. And Sundberg’s glove stayed golden, as he won the award again in 1979, 1980, and 1981. It took Bob Boone moving to the American League to break Sundberg’s six-year streak in 1982.

Up to this point, Sundberg’s career could be summed up as steady. He would play almost 150 games, hit about .275 or .280, play great defense, throw out basestealers at a better-than-league-average clip, and not make waves off the field. He lived in Arlington in the offseason and apparently would have been satisfied to be a Ranger for the rest of his career.

But things started to change in 1982. The Rangers, as usual in those days, were in flux—they would fire manager Don Zimmer and general manager Eddie Robinson during the season. But before that happened, they took pitch-calling responsibilities away from their six-time Gold Glove winner. Sundberg started making noise about a trade. Before the 1983 season, two things happened: the Rangers tried to trade Sundberg to the Dodgers for Orel Hershiser, Dave Stewart, Burt Hooton, and a minor-league outfielder. That trade fell through, but then new Rangers manager Doug Rader publicly said Sundberg didn’t play hard enough, and mentioned that Sundberg’s backup would be given every chance to win the starting job. Later, Rader would intimate that Sundberg wasn’t tough enough and wouldn’t block home plate (meanwhile, Sundberg would miss three games in April 1983 with thigh and elbow bruises after a collision with Toronto’s Willie Upshaw at home plate). Understandably, Sundberg suffered through his worst offensive season in years, hitting just .201/.272/.254.

So it was not a surprise, and probably some relief, when the Rangers came up with a deal with Milwaukee after the 1983 season. Sundberg headed to the Brewers, while the Rangers received a minor-league pitcher and Milwaukee’s backup catcher, a young man named Ned Yost.*

*If you’re keeping track at home, that means Jim Sundberg lost his Gold Glove streak to future Royals manager Bob Boone, was a longtime teammate of future Royals manager Buddy Bell, and traded for future Royals manager Ned Yost. And of course he was a teammate of Hal McRae and John Wathan in Kansas City. He doesn’t seem to have had any connection to Trey Hillman or Tony Muser, though.

Freed from all that drama, Sundberg hit .261/.332/.399 for the Brewers in 1984. And on a team with Robin Yount, Paul Molitor, and Rollie Fingers, he emerged as Milwaukee’s lone All-Star Game representative.

“The situation last year angered me, and I don’t think I’ve completely gotten over that anger. But I don’t think vindication is the key, the right thing. I think before healing takes place, you’ve got to be able to forgive. So I really look at the All-Star Game as something that eases the pain and makes it easier to forgive.”—Sundberg, quoted by Tom Flaherty, The Sporting News, July 23, 1984

Under the CBA rules at the time, Sundberg had a right to request a trade, or he could become a free agent in March 1985. He wanted to go somewhere he could play full time as he attempted to become the first player to catch 2,000 games in the majors. He asked Milwaukee to trade him at the end of the 1984 season, then began the waiting game. Oddly, the Rangers expressed interest in bringing him back, with Rader going so far as to have lunch with Sundberg and apologize for the way he had treated the veteran catcher. And eventually the Rangers were involved in a Sundberg trade: on January 18, 1985, they joined the Royals, Brewers, and Mets in a four-team deal. Kansas City sent Don Slaught to Texas and Frank Wills to New York. The Royals’ only return was Sundberg. And it was completely worth it.

“We have a staff…which is young and inexperienced. Bringing in an experienced catcher like Sundberg, we believe, will help the young staff tremendously.”—Royals general manager John Schuerholz, quoted by the Associated Press, January 19, 1985

After battling a sore right shoulder in spring training and missing quite a few preseason games, Sundberg started 1985 slowly, hitting just .213/.273/.328 in April. He fared much better in May, hitting .288/.310/.500, including four home runs. From May 12 through May 31, he enjoyed a stretch where he collected hits in 16 of 17 games. He followed that with a decent June showing (.237/.301/.434), salvaged by three home runs, two doubles, and two triples. He struggled in July, hitting .216/.306/.216, but appeared to be turning it around in August. From August 2 to August 17, he hit .323/.417/.548. But then he suffered torn cartilage in his rib cage. Sundberg missed three weeks, returning in early September to find his team in first place by 1.5 games. He would hit .222/.286/.311 the rest of the way, but the Royals still won the division. Sundberg did collect two hits in the October 3 game that gave the Royals a one-game lead with three to play, then one hit the next night as they clinched a tie, and two more hits in the Oct. 5 win that sent KC to the playoffs. He ended the season with a .245/.308/.381 line. That was about the same as Slaught’s .264/.297/.379 line in 1984. Of course, Sundberg was brought in for his defense and ability to handle an inexperienced pitching staff more than for his bat. So how did that work out?

The 1984 Royals allowed 686 runs; they gave up 639 in 1985. In 1984, the league average ERA was 3.99, with the Royals coming in just under that at 3.92. In 1985 the league average ERA climbed to 4.15, but the Royals team ERA dropped to 3.49, second in the league behind Toronto. Kansas City’s home runs allowed dropped from 136 to a league-low 103. They did walk more batters in 1985 (433 to 463) but their strikeout total jumped from 724 to 846. So by practically every statistical measure, adding Sundberg to the team was a success.

But, of course, the 1985 Royals’ story—and Sundberg’s—was not complete just yet. There was a postseason to play.

In his 12th major-league season, Sundberg was finally in the playoffs. Although he hit just .167/.200/.417 in the ALCS against Toronto, he had a couple of highlight moments. In Game Three, with Kansas City facing a 2-0 deficit in the series, he hit a solo home run in the fifth inning of the Royals’ 6-5 win. And in Game Seven, Sundberg came to bat in the sixth inning against Toronto ace Dave Stieb. With the bases loaded and the Royals clinging to a 2-1 lead, Sundberg hit a triple, missing a grand slam by inches. That gave the Royals all the cushion they needed to win and advance to the World Series.

In that Series, Sundberg hit .250/.400/.333, but is mostly remembered for one of the key plays in Royals history. As Kansas City came to bat in the ninth inning of Game Six, they faced a 1-0 deficit. With only three outs left in their season, the pressure was on. You know the start of the inning: Jorge Orta safe on a controversial call at first. Steve Balboni singled, and Sundberg stepped up, looking to bunt. It wasn’t a great bunt, and Orta was forced out at third. After a passed ball, Sundberg wound up at second, representing the winning run. Dane Iorg dumped a single into right field. Pinch-runner Onix Concepcion scored easily to tie the game, and here came Sundberg, chugging around third. As the throw came in from right field, Sundberg dove headfirst into the right-handed batter’s box, reaching his left hand across home plate just before catcher Darrell Porter could tag him. Sundberg leaped to his feet and was mobbed by several teammates while many more Royals surrounded Iorg between first and second base. The celebration lasted all through the night, all through Game Seven, and into the winter.

“I’ve been watching baserunners use headfirst slides to beat my throws for years. So I figured, why not me? I’ve got one more slide left.”—Sundberg, quoted by Paul Attner, The Sporting News, November 4, 1985

Sundberg would play one more season in Kansas City, hitting just .212/.303/.322, although he did set a career high with 12 home runs, and the Royals led the league in ERA. Just days before the 1987 season, the Royals made a trade, acquiring catcher Ed Hearn for pitching prospect David Cone. Although Sundberg thought he would be staying with the Royals, he was wrong. Three days later, he was traded to the Chicago Cubs for outfielder Thad Bosley and pitcher Dave Gumpert. After a year and a half with the Cubs, he was released, then signed once again by Texas. Sundberg played there the remainder of the 1988 season and again in 1989 before retiring, just shy of his goal of 2,000 games as a catcher. He finished with 1,927, which is still good for ninth place all-time.

After his playing days were over, as you might expect from a catcher who was almost impossible to get out of the lineup, Sundberg stayed busy. He worked in the Rangers’ front office, did color commentary on Rangers TV broadcasts, started a company to sell baseball/softball training products, and wrote a book with his wife about sports parenting. He still makes appearances as a motivational speaker and is heavily involved with the Dallas/Fort Worth Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter.

Jim Sundberg had a short Royals career, but there is a lasting legacy of his time in Kansas City. You can see it every time you visit Kauffman Stadium and see that 1985 World Series flag on the Hall of Fame building. Quite simply, if Sundberg wasn’t a Royal that year, I don’t believe they win the division, let alone the World Series.

Jim Sundberg’s best games of 1985:
6/28 vs. CAL: Went 4-7 with a double and triple and scored one run in 14-inning 6-5 win.
4/27 @ BOS: Had two doubles and a single, scored two runs and drove in one in 5-4 win.
5/14 @BAL: Cracked three-run home run in 5-2 win.
6/18 vs. MIN: Had two hits, scored two runs, drove in one in 10-1 win.
5/17 @ MIL:  Collected three hits, scored two runs in 3-0 win.

About the card:
Ah, the Traded Set. The bane of my childhood existence. While I didn’t live in a poor household growing up, there wasn’t a lot of extra money for baseball cards. So there was little chance I was going to be able to buy a whole new box of cards at the end of the summer. But now, as an adult with expendable income and an internet connection, I can afford to buy these. What a time to be alive. Anyway, it’s a good thing Topps produced those Traded Sets, or else this card wouldn’t be here, right? I assume this was taken in spring training 1985, but it could be anywhere against any team. Good action shot, though. On the back…a travel agency. How quaint. And it’s nice that Sundberg liked scuba diving and Egyptian Arabian horses, although I presume not at the same time.

And if you need a refresher on the previous entries,
#50-41 are here
#40-31 are here
#30-21 are here
#20-16 are here
#15-11 are here, and
#10-6 are here.

Here are the top five…

5. October 26, 1985: Iorg’s pinch-hit single gives Royals walkoff win

Well, you can’t force a Game Seven without winning Game Six, and then you can’t win a World Series without winning Game Seven. The stage was set for the Royals’ first World Series title in this game, and you might argue they really won the title on this night, even though they needed one more win to make it official. A ninth-inning comeback against a team that had not blown a ninth-inning lead all year was probably enough to capture momentum and cause the Cardinals to doubt themselves a little. But Don Denkinger’s blown call at the start of the ninth inning (even if Jorge Orta later was forced out at third) triggered a Cardinal meltdown that lasted the rest of the inning and carried into Game Seven. St. Louis was still fighting over this game the next night instead of focusing on the task at hand.

4. September 30, 1992: Brett Joins 3,000 Hit Club

Apologies to Gaylord Perry, Harmon Killebrew, and Orlando Cepeda, but let’s be honest: George Brett is the one true Hall of Fame player the Royals have had. This may change when Carlos Beltran makes the Hall, depending on how you feel about someone who only spent a third of his career here, but I do feel fairly certain that Brett will be the only Hall of Fame player who plays his entire career here. Of course, Brett was already going to the Hall, but on this pleasant southern California night, he cemented that fact with four base hits. The last one was the magic number 3,000, and it meant the Royals—and Kansas City—finally had their baseball immortal.

3. September 30, 2014: The Wild-Card Game

Given the setting, this is probably the best game in Royals history. It is certainly the best game in the short history of the wild-card setup, and it should be considered one of the best games in all of postseason history. Twelve innings and almost five hours of tension and elation and…well, every emotion imaginable. After a 29-year wait, Royals fans definitely wanted their return to the playoffs to last more than one game. And it did, thanks to the “keep the line moving” mantra, aggressive base running, and some sterling relief pitching. The Royals would use all those ingredients to make it to the seventh game of the World Series, an outcome that seemed improbable when they came to bat in the eighth inning of this game, trailing 7-3. From that inning on, this team was the toughest one I’ve ever seen, all the way through the 2015 season. The only reason this game is not in the top spot is that it was not for a title.

2. 1985 WS Game 7

1. 2015 WS Game 5

OK, now we get to the nitty-gritty. Why rank 2015’s crowning moment over 1985’s? Really, you could make an argument for either one to claim the top spot. There are some similarities; one was the defining moment of Royals fandom for thousands of Royals fans who had waited since 1969 (or even before that, if they had been A’s fans when they were in Kansas City) for a title, and one was the defining moment for thousands of Royals fans who didn’t remember 1985 but did remember a lot of terrible baseball. But for me the deciding factor was that 1985’s deciding game, even though it was a winner-take-all affair, was almost anti-climactic after the events of Game Six. Much of Game Seven, after the Royals blew the game open in the fifth, was just waiting around for the final out so the celebration could begin. Awesome, yes, but not as entertaining as 2015’s clincher. It is true that the stakes weren’t as high in 2015 Game Five; had the Royals lost, they still had two chances at home to clinch the title. But 2015 Game Five had more memorable moments than 1985 Game Seven, especially if you ignore the Cardinals’ meltdown in the latter game. That 2015 game featured a ninth-inning comeback highlighted by Eric Hosmer’s daring dash for home plate on a grounder to third, and then a five-run explosion in the 12^th to take control of the game. To me, Hosmer’s play alone tips the scales in 2015’s favor.

So there you have it. It was a pleasure compiling and researching this list, and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I also hope you enjoyed a memory or two you might have forgotten, or even learned a little something. I would also point out that a lot of these games, especially the postseason ones, are available on YouTube if you want to check them out, although I always wonder how long MLB will let them stay up (I didn’t post them). They can be quite interesting, even if you know ahead of time what’s going to happen.

10. October 11, 1985: Brett Saves The Series

So the Royals lost the last two games of the 1980 World Series. Then they lost three straight in the 1981 division series which was necessitated by the players’ strike that summer. Then they lost three straight in the 1984 ALCS. Baseball made the division series a best-of-seven affair before the 1985 season, and it was a good thing for the Royals, as they lost the first two games of that series. Yes, the franchise had a 10-game postseason losing streak going into Game Three of the 1985 ALCS. Meanwhile, manager Dick Howser had a personal 11-game postseason losing streak going (he managed the 1980 Yankees, swept by the Royals, and then the eight straight Kansas City losses from 1981 onward). Luckily, they also had George Brett on their side. The third baseman went 4-4, with two home runs, a double, a single, and an incredible defensive play to save a run. Kansas City needed every bit of that effort to pick up a 6-5 win. Brett’s big night began in the first inning with a solo home run to put the Royals ahead 1-0. In the third, he saved a run; with one out and Damaso Garcia at third, Lloyd Moseby hit a shot down the third-base line. Brett snagged it, and with all his momentum carrying him toward the third base coach’s box, wheeled and threw home. The ball whistled past Garcia’s head and into catcher Jim Sundberg’s glove. Sundberg applied the tag and the Royals kept their 1-0 lead. For the time being, anyway. Brett doubled and scored on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but Toronto touched up Bret Saberhagen for five runs in the fifth. Sundberg homered in the bottom of the fifth, and Brett hit a two-run shot to tie the game in the sixth. In the eighth, Brett led off with a single, advanced to third on a bunt and a groundout, and scored the go-ahead run on Steve Balboni’s bloop single. Steve Farr completed a scoreless stint of 4 1/3 innings in relief of Saberhagen with a perfect ninth inning, and the Royals’ string of postseason futility was snapped. More importantly, they still had a chance in the ALCS.

9. October 22, 1985: White’s Home Run Sparks Royals

If you had told a Royals fan in, say, 1980, that Frank White would hit cleanup in the World Series, they probably would have assumed something had gone horribly wrong. After all, White’s first several years in the majors were marked by low to mediocre batting averages and little power. He was still valuable because of his glove and his speed, but not someone you would expect to bat in the middle of the order. But as White’s career went along, he developed some power. After a then-career high of 10 in 1979, White hit nine homers in the strike-shortened 1981, then reached double digits in six straight years. That included a career-high 22 in the 1985 season, which he would equal the next year. With the DH not being used in the 1985 World Series (at the time, the rule was used in alternating seasons, regardless of which league’s park the game was played in), manager Dick Howser needed a cleanup hitter as Hal McRae would be relegated to pinch-hitting. Howser’s choice was between White and Steve Balboni, who of course had belted 36 home runs that year. However, Balboni also struck out a league-leading 166 times. So Howser went with the veteran, figuring he could at least “keep the line moving,” as a later generation of Royals players would put it. The Royals dropped the first two games of the Series at home, and there seemed like a very real chance their season might end in St. Louis. But in the fifth inning of Game Three, White stepped to the plate with a man on first and no outs. The Royals already held a 2-0 lead, but they had coughed up a two-run lead in Game Two, so this was hardly a safe lead. White doubled the advantage with a long home run off Cardinals starter Joaquin Andujar. With Bret Saberhagen cruising, the 4-0 lead was safe. Kansas City eventually won, 6-1, stemming the Cardinals’ momentum. And the key blow had come from a once-unlikely source.

8. October 12, 2015: The Comeback

All that work was about to go up in smoke. A whole season of striving to return to the World Series and finish the job, the trades of top prospects for Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist, the division title—it was about to come to a bitter end in Houston. Six outs from elimination in the Division Series—not even the League Championship Series!—the Royals were losing 6-2 in Game Four to the upstart Astros. Their vaunted bullpen had given up three runs the previous inning and now the sellout crowd of 42,387 was sensing victory. But in their dugout, the Royals promised each other they would fight to the last strike. They would not go away quietly, they would not quit, they would not give up. But even those in the dugout probably could not have predicted what was coming. Singles by light-hitting Alex Rios and Alcides Escobar started the inning. Zobrist looped a fly ball into center field, where Houston’s Carlos Gomez played it safe, letting the ball fall in for a single rather than attempt (and perhaps miss) a diving catch. Now the bases were loaded and things were getting interesting. Lorenzo Cain singled, driving in one run and leaving the bases loaded. New Astros pitcher Tony Sipp couldn’t stop the rally, as Eric Hosmer punched a line drive into right field for another single. Now the score was 6-4 and the bases were still loaded. Designated hitter Kendrys Morales hit a ground ball back up the middle, under Sipp’s glove and off the pitcher’s mound. Shortstop Carlos Correa was in position to grab it as he headed towards the second-base bag, ready to reverse the momentum with a double play. But the ball just kept rising, hitting the tip of Correa’s glove and bouncing into center field. Two runs scored and, improbably, the game was tied as Minute Maid Park went almost completely silent. In the space of 15 or so minutes, the entire series had turned around. Sipp recovered to strike out Mike Moustakas, but Drew Butera drew a tough walk off new pitcher Luke Gregerson and the bases were loaded again. After all that, Alex Gordon’s groundout, even though it brought Hosmer home with the go-ahead run, seemed almost anti-climactic. One inning later, Hosmer would provide the exclamation point, with a long home run to make the final score 9-6. The series was now tied and headed back to Kansas City for the deciding game, with almost no one doubting the Royals would win that one. Although it wasn’t easy (see moment 22), they did indeed win and advance.

7. October 10, 1980: Sweet, Sweet Sweep

For Royals fans of a certain age, the Yankees will always be the rival. That’s what happens when you experience heartbreak three straight years at the hands of one team. Even as the rivalry resembled the one between a hammer and a nail in the 1990s and 2000s, that hatred doesn’t dissolve. But there is one balm for that sore: the 1980 ALCS, when the Royals gained sweet revenge by sweeping their enemy and advancing to their first World Series. After a 7-2 thumping in Game One (see moment 39), the Royals won Game Two, 3-2, behind Dennis Leonard. They went to New York needing just one win to clinch, but also knowing that the Yankees had come from behind before. Kansas City scored first, as Frank White homered off Tommy John in the fifth for a 1-0 lead. But Dan Quisenberry, on in relief of Paul Splittorff, allowed two runs in the sixth (although one was unearned). The Royals were down 2-1 with two outs in the seventh when Wilson doubled. Yankees manager Dick Howser (yep!) summoned his relief ace, Goose Gossage, to protect the lead and force a Game Four. Washington beat out an infield single, bringing George Brett to the plate. Brett had struggled against the left-handed John, but he knew exactly what to expect from Gossage: heat. Brett was ready, launching the first pitch he saw into the upper deck in right field for a 4-2 lead. But the Yankees weren’t quite vanquished; Quisenberry gave up a triple and two walks to start the eighth. It looked like once again the Royals bullpen would blow a playoff game against the Yankees. Not this time, though, as Rick Cerone lined into a double play. A groundout ended the threat, and Quisenberry pitched a perfect ninth, striking out Willie Randolph to finally send the Royals to the World Series.

6. October 27, 2015: Gordon Sends Game One To Extras

Any Royals fans expecting a cakewalk in the 2015 World Series soon figured out they were wrong. Sure, Alcides Escobar started the bottom of the first with an inside-the-park home run, with an assist from center fielder Yoenis Cespedes, who tried for a running, backhanded catch only to have the ball hit his foot and bounce away. But the Mets scored single runs in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, all off Edinson Volquez, who was pitching unaware that his father had died in the Dominican Republic earlier that day. The Royals battled back to tie the score in their half of the sixth, with Ben Zobrist doubling and Lorenzo Cain singling to start the inning. Eric Hosmer drove in Zobrist with a sacrifice fly, and after Cain stole second, Mike Moustakas singled to center to tie the game. From there, it was a battle of bullpens. The Royals’ vaunted bullpen blinked first, when Kelvin Herrera gave up a two-out single to Juan Lagares in the eighth. Lagares stole second and scored when Hosmer committed an error on a ground ball. The Royals got a Zobrist double to start the eighth but couldn’t score. Mets closer Jeurys Familia came on to work the ninth, looking to give the Mets a lead in the series. He got one out, but Alex Gordon provided the highlight of the night. He drilled a 1-1 fastball way over the center-field fence, tying the game at 4-4. Not only that, he had provided a whole new generation (or three) of Royals fans with their iconic home run, matching the George Brett one we just discussed. After Gordon’s blast, a Royals win seemed certain. But it took a while. It took Wade Davis striking out the side in the 10^th, and Chris Young (perhaps the unsung hero of this game) working three scoreless innings in relief. The Royals missed a chance to win in the 12^th, loading the bases with two outs but not scoring. Finally, in the 14^th, Kansas City got the run they were looking for. Escobar reached on an error, moved to third on Zobrist’s single, and scored on Hosmer’s sacrifice fly, ending a game that tied for the longest World Series game in history by innings and was the second-longest by time (clocking in at five hours and nine minutes).

15. October 18, 1980: Aikens hits two homers in Series game—again

On this list, we also previously mentioned Willie Aikens’ heroics in Game Three of the 1980 World Series. Aikens had an amazingly good World Series overall, belting two home runs in Game One and driving in that winning run in Game Three. On this sun-splashed afternoon in Kansas City (back when they played World Series games during the day sometimes), he would write his name in the record books. The Royals wasted little time getting on the scoreboard; Willie Wilson led off with a single, advanced to third on a bad pickoff throw, and scored on a George Brett triple. Then Aikens hit the second pitch he saw into the right field water spectacular, giving the Royals a 3-0 lead. The Royals added one more that inning, and Aikens came to bat again in the second, this time with two outs and no one on. This time, he blasted one to the back of the Royals’ bullpen, upping Kansas City’s advantage to 5-1 and prompting a curtain call as Royals fans roared their approval. Aikens became the first player in history to have two two-homer games in one World Series, something that has only been equaled by Chase Utley in 2009. Aikens had two more chances to tie the record of three home runs in one World Series game, but he struck out and drew a walk instead. Dennis Leonard allowed a couple more runs but Dan Quisenberry closed out the 5-3 win, which evened up the Series at 2-2.

14. October 28, 2014: Ventura Slays Giants

When the 2014 World Series headed back to Kansas City for Game Six, the Royals needed…well, not a miracle, but something special. They had just lost the previous two games by a combined score of 16-4, and since they scored those four runs in the third inning of Game Five, the Giants had scored 15 unanswered runs. Now San Francisco needed just one win to finish off the World Series. And at this key juncture, the Royals would turn to a rookie. Yordano Ventura had enjoyed a successful first full year in the majors, but this was easily the biggest moment of his career to date. And although he was slightly built, Ventura proved he had a huge heart by pitching seven shutout innings in a 10-0 win. It’s true he was helped by the Royals’ offensive awakening, which included a seven-run outburst in the second inning, but Ventura still had to go out there, maintain his focus, and get people out, things which can be hard for a young pitcher given a big lead. In fact, following that big inning by the Royals, Ventura walked the bases loaded in the third, then got Buster Posey to ground into a double play to end the threat. He would only allow one infield single, one line-drive single, and two walks after that. The fireballing Ventura only picked up four strikeouts in the game, instead letting the spectacular defense behind him do the work. And by working seven innings, he allowed the most important pieces in the Royals bullpen to have an extra day of rest, assuring they would all be available for the Game Seven showdown the next night.

13. October 15, 2014: Royals complete ALCS sweep

Let’s be honest, by this point in the 2014 ALCS, a Royals win seemed inevitable. They were already ahead 3-0 and just needed to win one of the last four games to advance to the World Series for the first time in 29 years. Plus they were on the roll of a lifetime; it seemed like whatever it took to win the game—key hit, amazing defensive play, or lockdown innings from the bullpen—would happen. Still, you don’t want to mess around with these things. It’s best to just go ahead and win it when you can. So that’s what the Royals did. They scored two runs in the first inning in the most “2014 Royals” way possible: Alcides Escobar led off with an infield single and Nori Aoki was hit by a pitch. The number three hitter, Lorenzo Cain, put down a sacrifice bunt. Eric Hosmer hit a high bouncer to first, and when Steve Pearce threw home, Escobar slid and knocked the ball out of catcher Caleb Joseph’s glove. Escobar was safe, and as the ball bounced to the backstop, Aoki raced home with a second run. Yep, two runs without the ball leaving the infield. Those were the only two runs the Royals scored on the day, but Jason Vargas made them count. He allowed two hits and one run (a solo home run) while striking out six in 5 1/3 innings. After that home run, he only allowed one walk–which was promptly erased by a double play—as he worked into the sixth. At that point, manager Ned Yost turned things over to his best weapon: the bullpen. Kelvin Herrera allowed a single that put the tying run at third, but got the final out of the inning, then worked a perfect seventh. Wade Davis worked around a two-out single in the eighth. And Greg Holland finished things off in the ninth, avoiding trouble even though he issued a leadoff walk. Mike Moustakas fielded a grounder, took his time to make sure his footwork was good, and threw a bullet to Hosmer at first for the final out, touching off a celebration that lasted into the night.

12. October 23, 2015: Cain scores from first (on a single!)

Just like in life, it’s the little things in baseball. Royals third base coach Mike Jirschele, who was second-guessed by many after he held Alex Gordon at third in Game Seven of the 2014 World Series, was doing some prep work on the Blue Jays before the 2015 playoffs (a nice advantage of the Royals’ big division lead was the freedom it gave them to look ahead to October) and noticed that Toronto right fielder Jose Bautista had a tendency, on balls hit to his left (towards the foul line) with a runner on first, to throw on the fly to second base. Jirschele alerted the team to this fact before the ALCS, telling them to be prepared to be sent home. Then he waited. It would take the right situation, the right baserunner, and maybe even the right stadium (Kauffman’s spacious outfield would be better than Rogers Centre’s, probably) for this to ever come up. And then it did. In the eighth inning of ALCS Game Six, the Royals came to the plate with the score tied 3-3. Kansas City needed just one win to return to the World Series. And Lorenzo Cain led off with a walk. The speedy Cain could possibly score from first if the ball were hit to the right spot. Eric Hosmer obliged, pulling one close to the right-field line. It didn’t reach the corner; Bautista did a nice job of cutting it off and picked it up on the first bounce, but his momentum was carrying him towards the line. He spun and threw…to second, just as Jirschele expected. Cain was running on contact, and was already almost halfway to third by the time Bautista whirled around to throw. Bautista’s throw arrived at second base, where shortstop Troy Tulowitzki grabbed it (causing Hosmer to slam on the brakes and retreat to first) and made a throw home that was off-target and late. Cain slid in with the go-ahead run and jumped to his feet in the same motion, clapping his hands and exhorting the Kauffman Stadium crowd to get loud, a completely unnecessary exhortation. The Royals had a 4-3 lead and needed just three more outs. But the drama wasn’t over yet…

11. October 23, 2015: Wade’s great escape

…because the Royals didn’t score any more in the eighth inning (despite having runners at first and second with no outs), they still had that 4-3 lead as the Blue Jays came to the plate in the ninth. But to fully set the scene, we have to go back to the top of the eighth. The inning started with the Royals ahead 3-1. Kelvin Herrera had being throwing bullets in 1 2/3 innings of relief of Yordano Ventura, but manager Ned Yost turned to Ryan Madson to pitch the eighth. Yost perhaps would have gone with closer Wade Davis, but as everyone in the stadium knew, a line of storms was headed for Kansas City. There was certainly going to be a rain delay, and possibly a fairly lengthy one. If Davis pitched the eighth, he certainly couldn’t pitch the ninth after sitting down during a long delay. Madson had to face the top of Toronto’s potent batting order. Ben Revere led off with an infield single (at which point Davis started warming up anyway), but Madson struck out Josh Donaldson. However, any thoughts of him getting out of the inning unscathed quickly disappeared. Jose Bautista drilled a Madson fastball into the left-field seats, tying the game at 3-3. After Madson walked Edwin Encarnacion, Yost had no choice but to bring in Davis. He got the last two outs and then the rain hit. Forty-five minutes later, play resumed and the Royals scored that go-ahead run. But who would pitch the ninth and protect the lead? Davis returned to the mound, electrifying the Kauffman Stadium crowd. But the crowd quieted a bit when Russell Martin dropped a single into center field. Things got quieter when pinch-runner Dalton Pompey stole second and third. And a very nervous hush fell on the crowd when Kevin Pillar walked. Now the Blue Jays had the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at first, and both men could fly. Pretty much any ball in play would tie the game. Davis struck out pinch-hitter Dioner Navarro, but Pillar stole second on strike three, meaning any base hit was almost certainly going to put Toronto ahead. Davis started Revere off with two balls, then threw a nasty slider for strike one and got a helpful call on a fastball up and a little outside for strike two. Perhaps that call got in Revere’s head, as he swung and missed at the next pitch for the second out, then walked into the tunnel behind Toronto’s dugout and beat a trash can senseless. Now it was Donaldson, who would be named American League MVP after the season. Davis fell behind in the count, but Donaldson pulled a grounder to third, to Mike Moustakas, who made a perfect throw across the diamond to Eric Hosmer. For the second straight year, the cornerstones of Dayton Moore’s rebuilding efforts participated in the out that sent Kansas City to the World Series.

20. October 2, 2014: Moustakas homer puts Royals on top in ALDS

Coming off the emotional high of the 2014 wild-card game, the Royals had to quickly refocus on a very good Los Angeles Angels team. After all, Game One of the series was played in Anaheim less than 48 hours after that victory over Oakland, and the Angels had won 98 games in the regular season. Game One was a classic pitchers’ duel, perhaps unexpectedly given that the two starters (Jason Vargas and Jered Weaver) were not overpowering. For his part, Vargas was helped by a couple of great catches by Lorenzo Cain in center field. Each team scored one run in the third and another in the fifth, but that was it. Vargas left the game after six innings and Weaver after seven, and the two bullpens continued to put up goose eggs. But in the 11^th, southern California native Mike Moustakas stepped to the plate to lead off the inning. It had been a tough year for Moustakas, who had hit .212/.271/.361 in the regular season with a brief demotion to Omaha mixed in. He provided a memorable moment when he turned on a 1-1 fastball and hit a fly ball that carried just over the high fence in right field, giving the Royals a 3-2 lead. Closer Greg Holland, who hadn’t even been in the ballpark when the game began (he had been in North Carolina for the birth of his son, then hopped on a charter flight to Los Angeles and arrived in the fourth inning), recorded two strikeouts and a harmless popup in the bottom of the inning to seal the win.

19. October 8, 1980: “Yankee Killer” Gura Frustrates New York Again

Larry Gura was the proverbial “crafty lefty.” Without an overpowering fastball, he had to rely on an excellent changeup and his defense. Of course, with the funny way baseball often works, he was normally very good against one of the most powerful lineups of the era, the New York Yankees. Perhaps it was the extra motivation that came from being traded away from the Bronx, but Gura developed a reputation as a “Yankee killer.” So when the Royals returned to the playoffs in 1980, only to find New York once again between them and that elusive World Series, he was an excellent choice to pitch Game One in Royals Stadium. Gura did not start off well; he allowed a double in the first, then back-to-back home runs to Rick Cerone and Lou Piniella in the second. But after that he was nails. Only one Yankee would reach third base the rest of the game; only two others would get as far as second base. Reggie Jackson batted four times with men on base in this game. His results: a foul popup, two grounders, and a strikeout looking. That last groundout was a huge play; the Yankees had two on and two out in the seventh, with the Royals leading 4-2. Gura wisely pitched away from Jackson, eventually getting him to pull an outside pitch right to Frank White, who made the easy toss to first for the out. The Royals added three more runs and Gura finished off the 7-2 win which set the tone for the series.

18. October 31, 2015: Another opponent’s error, another comeback.

If you just looked at the result of the World Series and saw that the Royals won 4-1, you might think it was an easy win. But really, it could easily have been much closer. Game One was a one-run, 14-inning affair. Game Five went 12 innings, despite the five-run difference in the final score. And it took a late-inning comeback for the Royals to win Game Four. After the Royals won the first two games, the Series shifted to New York, where the Mets thumped KC in Game Three. Had the Royals lost Game Four, the Series would have been tied with all the momentum behind New York. As the fifth inning of Game Four started, the Royals’ offense was in a funk. After scoring three runs in the first two innings of the previous game, Kansas City had gone 11 innings without scoring. They stirred a little bit in that fifth inning, with a Salvador Perez double and Alex Gordon single producing a run and cutting their deficit to 2-1. But the Mets immediately got that run back. The Royals scored one more in the sixth, on a Ben Zobrist double and Lorenzo Cain single. But despite those hits starting the inning, the Royals could not score any more. They didn’t score in the seventh, and entered the eighth still losing 3-2. With one out, Zobrist and Cain drew back-to-back walks. That seemed promising, but the Mets sensibly turned to closer Jeurys Familia. Now, Familia had blown the save in Game One, but surely he wouldn’t do that again. After all, he had led the National League in saves with 51. And for a few seconds, it looked like Familia had retired the first man he faced. Eric Hosmer hit a soft grounder to second. It wasn’t a double play ball, but it was going to be the second out of the inning. Except that it bounced off second baseman Daniel Murphy’s glove and rolled into short right field. Zobrist scored and Cain raced to third. In the two previous playoff series, the Royals had taken full advantage of an opponent’s defensive miscue to score key runs. This would be no different. Mike Moustakas singled, this one getting just past poor Murphy’s diving attempt. Then Perez singled, driving in Hosmer for a 5-3 lead. That was all the Royals needed, as Wade Davis pitched two scoreless innings for the save and a 3-1 Series lead. The Royals were on the brink of their second title, thanks to the pressure they put on opposing defenses.

17. October 16, 1985: Sundberg’s triple sends Royals to World Series

The 1985 ALCS was a succession of close games. After a 6-1 Toronto win in Game One, the teams played two games decided by one run, then three games decided by two tallies. And Game Seven, with Bret Saberhagen pitching against Dave Stieb, figured to continue the trend of low-scoring and close. Saberhagen left after the third inning with a bruise on his right hand, thanks to a Willie Upshaw comebacker, but Charlie Leibrandt kept the Blue Jays at bay, allowing only one run before the ninth inning. The Royals held a slim 2-1 lead going into the sixth, when they broke through against Stieb. With one out, George Brett walked and Hal McRae was hit by a pitch. Pat Sheridan grounded into a forceout at third, but Steve Balboni walked to load the bases. Up stepped Jim Sundberg. You wouldn’t normally expect a 34-year-old catcher to hit a triple, but that’s what happened. Sundberg, whom the Royals brought in during the previous offseason for his defense and ability to work with young pitchers, hit a fly ball which just kept carrying, perhaps aided by the strong wind, down the right-field line. It bounced off the very top of the fence and bounded away from right fielder Jesse Barfield. By the time he retrieved it, three runs had scored and Sundberg was pulling into third. Almost all doubt had been removed from this close game. Leibrandt pitched into the ninth, and when he gave up a couple of one-out hits, Dan Quisenberry came on to get the last two outs and send the Royals back to the World Series.

16. October 3, 2014: Hosmer’s homer gives Royals ALDS edge

A few entries ago, we touched on Game One of the 2014 ALDS, with Mike Moustakas homering in the 11^th to put the Royals ahead in the series. The very next night, the Royals and Angels played a remarkably similar game. Again the two starters (Yordano Ventura and Matt Shoemaker) were on top of their games, with each one allowing five hits and one run; Ventura struck out five and walked one in seven innings while Shoemaker had six strikeouts and no walks in six innings. And again the two bullpens seemed unhittable for several innings. Until the 11^th, that is. Angels reliever Kevin Jepsen got the first out of the 11^th, but then Lorenzo Cain beat out an infield single. With the speedy Cain on first, perhaps the Angels expected a steal attempt. Jepsen threw a fastball right down the middle and Hosmer turned on it, hitting it in the general direction of Yorba Linda. As the Royals spilled out of their dugout in celebration of their new 3-1 lead, it was apparent that the series was going to Kansas City with the Royals in command. The Royals tacked on one more run and Greg Holland closed it out to put the Royals ahead 2-0 in the best-of-five series.

30. September 28, 1984: Back to the postseason

After losing the 1980 World Series and getting swept in the 1981 Division Series fiasco brought on by that summer’s strike, the Royals missed the playoffs for two straight years. And in mid-July 1984, it looked like that streak would continue. The Royals went into the All-Star Break just four games out of first despite a 39-43 record. Then they lost eight of nine to drop eight games back with 71 games left. Luckily, no one else in the AL West was very good, either. Kansas City won 44 of those last 71 games (a 100-win pace) to capture the division title by three games over Minnesota, despite being outscored for the season. The clincher came on September 28 in Oakland. Holding a two-game advantage over the Twins with three games left, the Royals took the field knowing the Twins were beating Cleveland 10-0. Kansas City overcame an early 1-0 deficit to take a 6-2 lead, with Frank White hitting solo home run and two-run triple and George Brett adding a solo home run and sacrifice fly. Meanwhile, the Indians were chipping away at that 10-run deficit, scoring seven runs in the sixth inning to make their score 10-9. Cleveland would score one more run to tie the game, then one more in the ninth for the walk-off win. Back in Oakland, Dan Quisenberry took over for Charlie Leibrandt to start the seventh inning. Quiz allowed a two-run home run to Rickey Henderson and a solo home run to Dwayne Murphy in the eighth. But the veteran closer retired six of the last seven men he faced, working around a one-out single in the ninth. When Henderson flied out to center field, the Royals were Western Division champions.

29. October 5, 1985: Walk-off Win Puts Royals in Playoffs

Royals fans might have felt like 1985 was a bit of déjà vu, given how closely it followed 1984’s script. Again the Royals started slowly, and in mid-July found themselves 7.5 games out of first. A seven-game winning streak in late July got them back in the race, but they didn’t reach first place until September 6. Two weeks later, they were back in second. They entered the final week of the season one game behind California, with the Angels coming to town for a four-game series before the Royals ended the season with three home games against Oakland. Kansas City won three of the four against the Angels, then won the first game against the A’s to clinch at least a tie for the division title. The next night, in the penultimate game of the season, the Royals captured their sixth division flag in exciting fashion. Oakland scored four runs in the first six innings against Bret Saberhagen. This Royals team, with its relatively weak offense, had not overcome a four-run deficit all season. But with one out in the sixth, Willie Wilson singled and George Brett homered, cutting the deficit in half. And then the Royals tied it in the seventh, as Lonnie Smith singled, Brett walked, and Frank White and Steve Balboni each added a run-scoring single. Dan Quisenberry pitched three scoreless innings, including the 10^th. In the bottom of the 10^th, Pat Sheridan doubled with one out and took third on Greg Pryor’s infield single. After Smith lined out to shortstop, Wilson hit a line drive off pitcher Jay Howell’s glove and into center field for the game- and division-winning run.

28. September 24, 2015: The old-fashioned way to the playoffs

So much had changed in baseball between 1985 and 2015, especially the divisional setups and the introduction of the wild-card spots, which allowed the Royals to reach the postseason in 2014 for the first time since that 1985 season. But one thing that was the same was that being the best team in a division, whether it consisted of five or seven teams, was cause for celebration and a sterling accomplishment. The 2015 Royals, who had come so close to winning the World Series the year before, began the season on a mission. They started out 7-0 and were 28-14 at one point. Still, they were in a battle with a surprisingly frisky Minnesota team, who held the top spot as June began. But a sweep of the Twins in Minneapolis in early June put the Royals in first for good, and they would steadily pull away. Kansas City was 4.5 up at the end of June, eight up at the end of July, and 13 up at the end of August. At that point, winning the division title was simply a matter of time. It might have taken longer than Royals fans were hoping, as the team rested starters and tried to ready its rotation for the playoffs, which led to a less-than-stellar September record of 11-17 (although the Royals did win all four regular-season games they played in October). The division-clinching game played out a lot like the full season. It was close early, but the Royals relentlessly kept adding runs to pull away, winning comfortably by a 10-4 score over Seattle at home. Johnny Cueto pitched seven innings, holding the Mariners to three runs on seven hits and striking out five. The offense pounded out 15 hits, including home runs by Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas. Lorenzo Cain broke a 3-3 tie in the sixth with a two-run single. Moustakas drove in two runs in the eighth with a single, then scored on an Alex Rios triple. That made the score 10-3, and all that was left was to countdown the final outs. Wade Davis allowed a home run and a walk to start the ninth, then retired three straight to end the game and give the Royals their first division title in 30 years.

27. October 1, 1976: Division Champions At Last

The early history of the Royals franchise is invariably entwined with the Oakland A’s. Of course, the Royals were the replacement for the A’s, who left KC for Oakland after the 1967 season. On the field, the Royals were chasing the A’s, then they were battling them, and finally they conquered them. But there was also the sense, whether it was acknowledged publicly or not, that the Royals didn’t just want to beat the A’s. They wanted to be a better organization, top to bottom, and not just in the usual way that competing organizations want. No, after a decade-plus of the Athletics’ complete ineptitude in Kansas City, topped off by Charlie Finley’s antics, the Royals wanted to be professional. Not only would they not be a glorified farm team for the Yankees, they wouldn’t participate in craziness such as having a mule mascot, or moving the fences in a ridiculous amount to make a point, or super-colorful uniforms. It didn’t help that the A’s finally became winners just after they moved. Oakland won the AL West every year from 1971-1975, with the Royals finishing second in three of those seasons. So 1976 was a sweet summer for the Royals and their fans. KC took over the top spot in the division for good on May 18 and gradually built their lead. By early August, they were 12 games ahead of Oakland. But then they started losing—nine of 10 at one point—and the lead began shrinking. By mid-September, it was down to 3.5 games. A five-game win streak may have calmed some nerves, but more losses followed. The Royals traveled to Oakland to close out September with a three-game series and lost the first two. The lead was down to 2.5 with four games left (the A’s had five left). But Larry Gura shut out the A’s in the final game of the series. Back home for the last three games of the year, the Royals lost to Minnesota on October 1, only to find out later that night that the A’s had lost and Kansas City, at long last, would be in the postseason. The next afternoon, the Royals lost a nationally-televised game against the Twins, but the celebration continued anyway, with shortstop Freddie Patek and second baseman Cookie Rojas fulfilling a promise they had made when Royals Stadium opened: after the game, they jumped in the fountains to celebrate the team’s first division title.

26. September 26, 2014: Three Decades Of Frustration Disappear

The Royals franchise was down for so long that they were essentially starting over when Dayton Moore became general manager in 2006. There was a little talent but they were more or less at the level of an expansion team again. It took almost a decade for the hard work of rebuilding an organization to pay off. But everything eventually pointed to a window of 2013-2017 for contention: high draft picks (Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas), the fruits of an increased Latin America presence in scouting and spending (Salvador Perez, Yordano Ventura), and the returns in a couple of big trades (James Shields, Lorenzo Cain, Alcides Escobar, Wade Davis) were all supposed to gel and, with a little big-league experience, become a championship-caliber team. They came close in 2013, but in 2014 it looked for a long time like another year of that window was going to waste away. A solid start was undone by a 12-17 May. Then the Royals rattled off 10 wins in a row to briefly take over first place. But by July 22 they were eight games out of first and two under .500. That’s when the winning began. First it was five in a row, then a week later, an eight-game streak that lifted them back to first place. They held on to first into September before Detroit overtook them. Still, they had a wild-card spot to fall back on, if they could hold off Cleveland and Seattle. They came through by winning a series in Cleveland, eliminating the Indians, and then headed to Chicago for the last four games of the regular season. A win in the first game dropped their magic number for any playoff spot to one. For such a momentous occasion, the Royals didn’t show any nerves, scoring three runs in the first inning—Escobar led off the game with a single, Nori Aoki followed with a triple, Cain singled and stole second, and Billy Butler drove him in with a single. Jeremy Guthrie made that stand up for seven innings, holding the White Sox to four singles and collecting six strikeouts. Wade Davis gave up one run in the eighth, but struck out the side. Greg Holland retired the Sox in order in the ninth, getting Michael Taylor to foul out to end the game and 29 years of frustration for Royals fans.

25. October 22, 2014: Butler Did It

After winning the epic wild-card game, the Royals raced through the 2014 playoffs, sweeping the Angels in the division series and the Orioles in the championship series. It looked like they might never lose again. But they were brought back to earth when San Francisco thumped them in Game One of the World Series, 7-1. It would have been easy to expect the Royals to “just be happy to be here” and the experienced Giants to roll over them. And yes, the 1985 Royals won the Series after losing the first two games at home, but that’s not really a formula for success. So Game Two took on extra importance for Kansas City. The Royals gave up one in the first, but responded with single runs in the first and second. The Giants tied it up in the fourth, and the score was still 2-2 as the bottom of the sixth began. Lorenzo Cain singled and Eric Hosmer walked. Giants manager Bruce Bochy summoned reliever Jean Machi from the bullpen to face Billy Butler. Machi was a ground-ball pitcher; Butler grounded into double plays often. Obviously Bochy was banking on this result. But Butler, who had driven in the first run of the game, lined a 2-0 pitch over the shortstop to drive in Cain and put the Royals back in front. As he was removed for a pinch-runner, Butler acknowledged the standing ovation the crowd was giving with a tip of his cap. Butler had opened the door, and his teammates kicked it in, scoring four more runs in the inning and cruising to a 7-2 win. That tied the Series and proved the Royals belonged there.

24. October 10, 2014 Gordon and Moustakas Put On Power Display

The 2014 ALCS promised to be a contrast in styles. Both the Royals and Baltimore Orioles emphasized a strong bullpen and good defense, but the Orioles hit lots of home runs and rarely stole bases. The Royals, of course, were daring on the bases but not known for their slugging. When the Royals jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning of Game One, things looked good for Kansas City. Just one more inning and they could turn things over to their bullpen. It didn’t work out that way. Baltimore scored three in the fifth against James Shields and tied it in the sixth against Brandon Finnegan. Now it was a matchup of the best parts of those two vaunted bullpens. Not surprisingly, the score remained tied into the ninth inning, where the Royals blew a golden opportunity (bases loaded, no outs) to take the lead. Usually it seems like a team that fails to take advantage of something like that, especially in the postseason, is doomed. But Wade Davis struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth. And then, in the 10^th, Alex Gordon led off with a no-doubt home run into the right-center field seats. Perhaps shaken by the long home run, pitcher Darren O’Day walked Salvador Perez on four pitches, but recovered to strike out Omar Infante. New pitcher Brian Matusz was brought in to face Mike Moustakas, a lefty-lefty matchup between a pitcher who had held lefties to a .223/.277/.350 line in 2014 and a batter who had hit .172/.241/.313 against southpaws that year. Moustakas patiently worked the count full, then got a fastball up and launched it over the center-field fence. Just like that, the Royals led 8-5. Although Greg Holland gave up a run with two outs in the bottom of the 10^th, he was able to get the last out and give the Royals the win in the first game of the series, on the road, no less.

23. October 17, 1980: Royals Get First Series Win On Aikens Single

At last, the Yankees were vanquished (more on that in a later installment of this list, of course) and the Royals were in the World Series, facing Philadelphia. But the first two games did not go well; the Royals coughed up a 4-0 lead in Game One and a 4-2 lead in Game Two. As the series shifted to Kansas City for three games, the Royals needed a win. They took a 1-0 lead in the first on a George Brett home run; the Phillies immediately tied the score in the second. Willie Aikens tripled in the fourth and Hal McRae drove him in for a 2-1 lead; again the Phillies tied the score in the next inning. Amos Otis homered in the seventh; once again, Philadelphia tied the score in their next at-bat. The first World Series game ever played in Kansas City headed into the 10^th inning, where at least the Royals knew that if they scored, the Phillies wouldn’t get a chance to tie it up. Facing relief ace Tug McGraw, the Royals got a leadoff single from U.L. Washington and a walk by Willie Wilson. But Washington was caught stealing when Frank White tried to bunt and missed. White then struck out for the second out. With Brett up, Wilson stole second. So the Phillies responded by walking Brett, bringing Aikens up with a chance to be the hero. Aikens got the count to 2-1, then lined a shot into left-center field. Even an excellent center fielder like Garry Maddox couldn’t catch this one. Wilson scored easily, and Aikens had given the Royals their first ever win in a World Series game.

22. October 14, 2015: Morales Puts Exclamation Point On ALDS Win

Even though the Royals cruised to the 2015 division title, their first postseason series was an epic tussle with the Houston Astros. The 2014 team ran off eight straight postseason wins to reach the World Series, but in the 2015 Division Series, the Royals’ playoff lives were flashing before their eyes as they faced a 6-2 deficit in Game Four, six outs from elimination. Of course, they came back to win that game (and of course, there will probably be a little more about that later on in this list), but Houston wasn’t going away that easily. In the deciding Game Five, the Astros scored two runs off Johnny Cueto in the second inning. No one knew at the time that single and home run would be the only hits Cueto would allow; given that the Astros had scored 19 runs in the first four games, it was reasonable to assume they weren’t done. The Royals got one run back in the fourth, and an Alex Rios double in the fifth put them ahead 3-2. When Rios scored on a Ben Zobrist sacrifice fly, the lead was pushed out to 4-2. Cueto finished off the eighth inning, marking 19 straight batters retired since the home run. The Astros turned to starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel to pitch the eighth. This was something of a desperation move, since everyone knew Wade Davis was going to pitch the ninth for the Royals. Houston was just trying to give themselves a chance to stay in the game. But the move also had some historical overtones; just one year earlier, the Royals had been denied a World Series title by a very good left-handed starter pitching in relief in a winner-take-all game. Not this time. Alcides Escobar led off with a double, a ground ball that just stayed fair on its way up the right-field line. But Ben Zobrist lined out to second. Houston intentionally walked Lorenzo Cain, and then Keuchel got Eric Hosmer to foul out to the catcher. It looked like Houston might have a flicker of hope after all. Up stepped designated hitter Kendrys Morales, who had given the Royals’ lineup a nice jolt of power as a free agent signing. Morales drove a 2-2 pitch into the water spectacular in deepest left-center, extending Kansas City’s lead to 7-2 and removing all doubt from the game.

21. October 6, 1978: Brett Blasts Three Homers In Playoff Game

This one gets lost in the shuffle sometimes, I think. Because the 1978 ALCS was the only one of the Royals-Yankees trilogy that didn’t go five games or have a memorable ending, it gets remembered less. And the Royals lost this particular game. But still, three home runs in a postseason game is impressive. It is a major league record, a feat which has only been accomplished 11 times. And when Brett did it, he became just the fourth person to do it—Babe Ruth did it twice (1926 and 1928), Pirates first baseman Bob Robertson did it in the 1971 NLCS, and the Yankees’ Reggie Jackson did it in the 1977 World Series. By 1978, Brett’s reputation as a clutch hitter was already established, but he really wasn’t much of a power hitter. He had 22 home runs in 1977 but only nine in 1978. But in this game, he wasted little time before flexing his muscles. Brett hit Catfish Hunter’s third pitch into the upper deck of Yankee Stadium. In the third inning, with one out and the score tied at 1-1, Brett belted a 1-0 Hunter offering over the center-field fence. And in the fifth, he got Hunter again, this time a line drive into the right-field bleachers to tie the game at 3-3. Brett had two more chances to do something no one had ever done—four homers in a postseason game—but he flied out to the warning track in center field in the seventh and flied out to left in the ninth, both coming against Goose Gossage. The Yankees won, 6-5, and would finish off the series the next day. But you couldn’t blame Brett for this loss.

By the way, if you’re wondering, these were determined by a committee of…me. Well, I showed the list to my wife, The Amazing Michelle, but I picked the moments and the order. Just one man’s opinion…

40. July 9, 1971: Patek Hits For Cycle

One thing I still find amazing about the early Royals is how quickly they got talented players in the fold. The Royals’ first general manager, Cedric Tallis, was a master at picking out players who were languishing in other organizations but were capable of being good major leaguers, and then prying them away for spare parts. Freddie Patek might not quite fit that mold—he played 147 games for Pittsburgh in 1969, but when the Pirates lost confidence in him, the Royals were ready to snap him up. And in Patek’s first season in Kansas City, he became the first Royal to hit for the cycle. On July 9 of that season, the Royals were in Minnesota to face the Twins. Patek led off the game with a double and scored on a Paul Schaal single. Patek singled in the second and scored again, this time on an Amos Otis single. Then he tripled in the fourth inning, but was left stranded at third. Now he just needed a home run for the cycle. Despite Patek’s small stature, he did have a little bit of pop, but it was probably the unlikeliest part of the cycle for him to get—he hit six home runs in 1971, and that was his career high. Patek grounded into a forceout in the seventh, but he had a couple of things working in his favor: the Royals were on the road and so would bat in the ninth no matter what, and the Twins had managed to tie the score at 3-3, so extra innings could be possible. As it happened, Patek came to bat with one on and two outs in the ninth, with Twins starter Jim Perry still in the game and the score still tied. This time, Patek came through, launching one over the left-field fence to make Royals history and give his team a 5-3 lead. The Royals added one more run and took a 6-3 victory. Only three other players in Royals history have hit for the cycle: John Mayberry (1977), George Brett (1979, 1990), and Frank White (1979, 1982). As an aside, I am a little surprised that the recent outstanding Royals teams didn’t have anyone hit for the cycle. That and a no-hitter are about all they didn’t accomplish.

39. September 20, 2017: Moose Reaches 37

Speaking of things the most recent group of Royals did, this is (as you might expect) the most recent moment on the list. Last September, Mike Moustakas made one of the more embarrassing franchise records in all of baseball somewhat less embarrassing. In the Royals’ seventh season of existence, John Mayberry hit 34 home runs. Ten years later, Steve Balboni hit 36. Amazingly, that record lasted almost 32 years, through the Steroid Era, the gradual shrinking of ballparks, the juiced ball, and the launch angle revolution. Balboni’s mark was challenged several times, but Moustakas finally broke through. Almost exactly 32 years after Balboni tied Mayberry, Moustakas stepped to the plate in Toronto. Blue Jays pitcher Carlos Ramirez missed the strike zone twice, then threw a slider that stayed over the plate. Moose lined it over the right-field fence for number 37. He would add one more home run before the season was over. Nothing against Moustakas, but here’s hoping his record doesn’t last three decades.

38. August 25, 1999: Monty Joins 300 Club

Jeff Montgomery wasn’t really supposed to be a closer. When the Royals acquired him from Cincinnati in what seemed to be a minor trade, the feeling was that he would be a middle reliever. In fact, he began his first season in the organization in the minors, not reaching the majors until June. And he wasn’t the stereotypical hulking closer with a 98-mph fastball. But using a mixture of four pitches and his smarts, Monty just got hitters out. And eventually he took over the closer spot, outlasting incumbent Steve Farr and high-priced free agent Mark Davis. The saves piled up, including a league-leading 45 in 1993 (which also tied Dan Quisenberry’s franchise record at the time). And eventually Montgomery entered the 1999 season close to joining the 300-save club. At that time, only nine men had done so. The 1999 season was a struggle for Montgomery (a 6.84 ERA), but he got there. On August 25, 1999, the Royals entered the ninth with an 8-5 lead over Baltimore. But it wasn’t until there were two outs and a run in that Montgomery was summoned from the bullpen. He gave up a couple of ground-ball singles, bringing the fearsome Albert Belle to the plate. But Montgomery, as he had so many times before, got his man, this time on a grounder to shortstop. Save #300 was in the books. Montgomery retired after that 1999 season with a total of 304 saves, still good for 24^th on the all-time list.

37. September 11, 1990: White Picks Up 2,000^th Hit

First impressions are hard to shake. When Frank White came to the majors, he was definitely a great-field, no-hit middle infield type. But as he played more, his bat came around. White would never be confused with Ryne Sandberg, but from 1978 on, he could be counted on for some useful contributions offensively, not just with his glove. Eventually he learned to hit for some power—most second basemen don’t set career highs for home runs at age 34 (at least not in the 1980s, they didn’t). Despite all that, White’s offensive ability often got overlooked. Which makes it nice that he was able to reach 2,000 hits before his career ended. White entered the 1990 season with 1,954 career hits, so the milestone seemed like a sure thing. But White suffered through a difficult season, with injuries, slumps, and the team’s desire to get a look at prospect Terry Shumpert, particularly as the season went south. So it took White until September, but he got there. On the 11^th, just one week after his 40^th birthday, White stepped to the plate in the fourth inning. The Kansas City native drove one off the center-field fence for a double, scoring two runs to pull the Royals within one, 5-4. The crowd of 18,493 gave the hometown player a nice standing ovation. It would be one of the last ones he got as a player, as the Royals declined to bring him back as a free agent after the season and his career ended. Only two men have accumulated 2,000 hits as a Royal: George Brett and Frank White.

36. July 11, 1989: Bo Knows All-Star Domination

I’ve written this before: I don’t think it’s happened since, but in 1989 the Royals employed the coolest baseball player on the planet. Bo Jackson was a household name, thanks to his success in baseball, football, and video games (as Tecmo Bowl debuted for Nintendo in February 1989, with Jackson as the most unstoppable player in the game). In his first couple of seasons with the Royals, you could see the talent was there but it was still raw. But in 1989, Bo started putting it all together. He got off to a great start that year, hitting eight home runs in April, ending the month with a .984 OPS. Although he didn’t hit as well in May, he picked back up in June. Not surprisingly with his stats and fame, the fans voted for him to start the All-Star Game. Manager Tony LaRussa decided to bat him leadoff. And he hit the second pitch he saw 448 feet, over the center-field fence. Later on, he would collect an RBI by beating out a fairly routine double play ball, then steal a base. He also added a single, and eventually picked up the All-Star Game MVP trophy for his efforts. Oh, and Nike picked this game to debut the “Bo Knows” commercial. Not bad for one night.

35. April 27, 1973: Busby No-Hits Detroit

Steve Busby was an intelligent, good-looking young man who was also an excellent all-around athlete. He had a bright future when the Royals drafted him in 1971, and he made his major-league debut at the end of the 1972 season. Like many young pitchers, he had a bit of wildness, but it was apparent that he was a future star. He earned an Opening Day start for the 1973 season; it was his sixth major league appearance. His first four starts of the season were not very good, especially the last one: he was pulled in the second inning after allowing five runs. Afterward, he reported some stiffness in his shoulder and skipped his next start. Manager Jack McKeon told him he would be sent to the minors if he didn’t start getting outs. Busby responded by getting 27 outs in his next start without allowing a hit. It was a cold night in Detroit, and Busby made history with the first no-hitter ever by a Royal. It was not the most artistic one—he walked six hitters and threw a wild pitch, but he made good pitches when he needed to. Most no-hitters have a great defensive play, and this one was no different. Busby would later say he was lucky in the ninth inning, when, with a man on first and no outs, Rich Reese hit a screaming line drive towards right field. But John Mayberry snagged it, then stepped on first for the double play. Busby got Bill Freehan to pop up, and when shortstop Freddie Patek caught it, Busby had his first no-hitter. Yes, his first—Busby would throw another one, this time against Milwaukee, on June 19, 1974. The Royals have had two other no-hitters in team history besides Busby’s: Jim Colborn threw the first no-hitter by a Royal at Royals Stadium on May 14, 1977, and Bret Saberhagen accomplished it on August 26, 1991.

34. August 17, 1980: Brett Reaches .400 Mark

It’s one of the most iconic photos in Royals history: George Brett, standing on second base with his arms raised, tipping his helmet to the home crowd. Why was that happening? Because in mid-August, Brett had raised his average above the magic .400 mark that no hitter had achieved for a full season since 1941. The chase was officially on, and Royals fans were roaring their approval. You might think Brett had been hitting well all season to have an average that high, but you would be wrong. He endured his usual slow start, and bottomed out on May 21 with an 0-6 game that left him hitting .247. Ten days later, his average was at .301. Ten days after that, he was at .337. In 18 games, Brett had hit .447. He got hurt in that June 10 game, missed a month, and came back just as hot. In the 21 games he played in July, he hit .494. Yes, for three weeks, he averaged one hit every two at-bats. He had hits in 20 of those 21 games. Now his average for the season was at .390. But he cooled off slightly as August began, meaning just one hit a game instead of two or three. He was hitting .391 as Toronto came to town for a three-game weekend series. One hit in game one dropped him to .389, but a three-hit game got him up to .394. And in the Sunday game of the series, he walked in the first inning, singled in the third and fifth, then doubled in the seventh to put the Royals in front and bring his average to .399. He would get one more at-bat, in the eighth with the bases loaded. He lined another double to left field, breaking the game open and raising his average to .401. This was also the 29^th game of a 30-game hit streak. Brett would eventually get his average as high as .406 on August 30 before a late-season slump cost him his chance at .400.

33. September 23, 1977: AL West Champs Again

I guess putting this division title at the lowest spot of any on the list might remind you of “middle child syndrome” for the 1976-1978 group of titles. I struggled with where exactly to put it. Ultimately, I gave it this spot because the 1976 one, being the first one in franchise history, seems like a bigger deal. And the 1978 one meant a third straight title, which is a pretty big deal. But the 1977 AL West title shouldn’t be overlooked. The 1977 team won 102 games, best in franchise history and still the only edition to crack 100 wins. They went 58-23 over the second half of the season, including winning 24 of 25 in September to blow open the division race. For much of the summer, that race looked like a four-team dogfight between the Royals, Chicago, Minnesota, and Texas. The Royals, 7.5 games out at one point in May, didn’t take over first place for good until August 20. But as the wins piled up, a title became inevitable. The Royals made it official on September 23 in Anaheim. Knowing they just needed one win, the Royals scored seven runs in the first four innings, with Al Cowens driving in five runs and John Mayberry adding a two-run homer. Dennis Leonard pitched a complete game, striking out 13 Angels. One of those was Carlos May, who ended the game by looking at a called third strike. The Royals finished the season eight games ahead of Texas.

32. September 26, 1978: Threepeat

Three division titles in a row is a fine accomplishment. Of course, from the start of the four-division setup in 1969 through the end of that arrangement in 1993, 10 teams accomplished the feat. The playoffs from 1976-1978 were almost exactly the same matchups all three years; only the NL West champion changed. But as we’ve seen recently with the Royals, it’s hard to reach the playoffs, even an expanded version, year after year. So this was a big deal. Unlike 1976 and 1977, the Royals never opened up a large lead in the division. They took over first place for good on August 27, but it took a five-game winning streak in mid-September to give them a little breathing room over California. Finally, on September 26, the Royals clinched their third straight division title. Larry Gura pitched a complete game, allowing only a solo home run to Seattle’s Leon Roberts in the fourth and two harmless doubles. The Royals overcame that with three runs in the fifth (Amos Otis drove in two with a single) and one more in the sixth, courtesy of an Al Cowens double. Gura got a double play to end the seventh, then retired the side in order in the eighth and ninth to finish off the game and the division race. The Royals ended up five games ahead of California.

31. September 17, 1980: Back On The Throne

Just look at that clinching date. This was a season-long beatdown of the AL West. The Royals, after missing the playoffs in 1979, were on a mission in 1980. They took over first place for good on May 23, led by 8.5 games at the All-Star break, and were 20 games up at the end of August before a 12-19 finish cost them a 100-win season and reduced their final margin to 14 games over Oakland. Part of the Royals’ dominance was due to the A’s being the only other team in the division with a winning record, but it probably didn’t matter (the Royals actually did better against the AL East in 1980: 53-31 while going 44-34 against the West). The clincher came in the first game of a doubleheader as the Royals blanked California, 5-0, in front of a home crowd of 25,908. Dennis Leonard held the Angels to three hits and struck out nine as he pitched a complete game. Kansas City scored in the first on a Hal McRae sacrifice fly, then added two more in the second with Willie Wilson’s single driving in both runs. They added two more in the fifth, with Frank White and Clint Hurdle picking up RBI singles to put the game away. Leonard retired 16 straight before issuing a two-out walk in the ninth, then struck out Jason Thompson to end the game and move the Royals into the playoffs.