The vision for the Kansas City Royals’ first postseason appearance in nine years was laid out in the final weeks of 2022.
In the midst of a sixth straight losing season, Royals owner John Sherman fired Dayton Moore, the architect of the 2015 World Series champions, replaced him with J.J. Picollo, one of Moore’s long-time lieutenants, and then revealed one of the reasons why.
“Dayton always talks in terms of what a championship team looks like,” Sherman said on Sept. 21, 2022. “That’s a great conversation, but I’d like to know what a wild-card team looks like first.”
Sherman wasn’t setting his sights low as much as acknowledging the first step to sustained success. Two years later, the Royals have accomplished the first goal.
One year after finishing 56-106 — tied for the worst record in club history — the Royals on Friday clinched a spot in the AL postseason field for the first time since 2015. Despite a 3-0 loss to the Braves in Atlanta earlier in the night, the Royals claimed a wild-card spot when the Twins fell 7-2 to the Orioles, completing a late-season collapse.
Kansas City’s turnaround represents one of the greatest in baseball history. The Royals, 85-75, are just the third team in MLB history to make the playoffs one year after losing 100 games. The others are the 2017 Minnesota Twins, who lost 103 games in 2016 — and the 2020 Miami Marlins, who claimed a wild card in a 60-game COVID season. The record for most wins following a 100-loss season is 87, held by the 1987 Cubs and 1989 Orioles.
Buoyed by an MVP caliber season by shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and an offseason free agent class that rebuilt the starting rotation into one of the best in the game, the Royals raced out to a 34-19 record during the season’s first two months and never left the playoff race.
Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, signed in the offseason, bolstered a rotation that already featured lefty Cole Ragans, acquired last summer from the Texas Rangers for reliever Aroldis Chapman. Piccolo, who reshaped the roster with more than $110 million spent last winter, was also active at the deadline, acquiring reliever Lucas Erceg from the Oakland A’s. The only holdover from the last playoff team is Salvador Perez, who remains a productive hitter at age 34.
The Royals spent most of August and September holding one of three AL Wild Card spots, and they won 10 of 13 in mid August to momentarily pull even with the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central race. They proceeded to weather a pair of seven-game losing streaks that momentarily put their postseason hopes in doubt. But they swept the Washington Nationals earlier this week and distanced themselves from the fading Twins.
Kansas City has now reached playoffs for just the fourth time in 40 years, though each of the previous three appearances included a trip to the World Series. The franchise made the World Series as a wild card team in 2014 and won world championships in 2015 and 1985.
“If anybody knows, Kansas City Royals fans know,” Sherman said in 2022. “If you can get a wild card slot and you can get in the dance, anything can happen.”
Now the Royals will try to take the next step.
(Top photo of Salvador Perez, the lone remaining player from the Royals 2015 championship team, which was also Kansas City last playoff appearance until now: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / USA Today)
