Let’s take a moment to step back and consider what the Kansas City Royals have done over the last month. First, they make the playoffs for the first time since they won the World Series in 1985. That’s almost 30 years. That’s a long time to not make the playoffs. That’s a lot of lean years, a lot of different managers, and a lot of losing.
Then, they come out and win all 8 of their playoff games. They beat the Oakland A’s in the Wild Card Game in comeback fashion. In the ALDS, they swept the heavily favored Los Angeles Angels. In the ALCS, in an improbable matchup with the Baltimore Orioles (no one would have picked those two teams for the ALCS back in April), the Royals swept them, too.
The Royals are 8-0 in the playoffs. They haven’t lost a game in about a month. Now, they are in the World Series, matched up agains the San Francisco Giants, the Wild Card from the NL, in a matchup even fewer people could have predicted.
What makes the Royals different? Well, for starters, they have incredible pitching. Their staff closed out the year with a 3.51 ERA, good for 4th in the AL. Their bullpen? Even better. The Royals led the AL with 53 saves. Their pen only blew 12 saves all year. That means they converted 82% of their save opportunities, also best in the AL.
In the playoffs, the pitching has been even better, recording a 2.93 ERA, which is a full run lower than the 2nd place staff, the Orioles.
When you look at their lineup, you step back and wonder, how do they score runs? They don’t have a lot of power (LF Alex Gordon led the team with 19 HRs and 74 RBIs this season). Instead, the Royals win games as a team. They get on base, then do what it takes to score. They hit doubles. They steal bases. They play team baseball. And that’s why they are here.
Most casual baseball fans aren’t going to know any of the Royals players (James Shields, the Royals ace pitcher, may be the lone exception). This team doesn’t have a lot of star power. That’s okay, though, because, using the 2014 New York Yankees as an example, star power doesn’t equal wins.
The Royals have groomed their own players to create this World Series team. They drafted Gordon, 3B Mike Moustakas, DH Billy Butler, RP Brandon Finnegan, and 1B Eric Hosmer all in the 1st round. SP Yordano Ventura, RP Kelvin Herrera, and C Salvador Perez have all been career Royals. SP Danny Duffy, RP Greg Holland, and OFs Jarrod Dyson and Terrance Gore were all late round picks. The rest of the crew were acquired in trades or free agency.
Kansas City has groomed their own talent to get to this point. That means they had to be bad for a while in order to be good (take notes, Houston Astros). This is a team and you can tell by watching them. They went through the trenches together, suffering all those losses. They’ve put in the time and now they get to celebrate being good.
I’m rooting for them to win the Series. It should be quite competitive against the Giants, but I predict the Royals in 6 games.
Growing With The Gibsons 
My best friend in high school was a huge KC Royals fan. Her dad used to let her skip school to go to games. I bet your Aunt Donna and Cousins Robbie and Bryan are pretty happy about this, too!