“Why not us,” Sound familiar? If you follow baseball, it’s no surprise. The reason that that very simple phrase has so much meaning and familiarity to you is because of one of the best stories in the history of baseball. The Boston Red Sox hadn’t won a World Series in 86 years. The Curse of the Bambino haunted Boston, but then came the year of 2004 and with the motto “Why not us” the Red Sox won their first World Series since 1918.
For the Royals, it has been 28 years since their last World Series victory. While that is not even close to the longest championship drought, 28 years is the longest playoff drought in all major US sports and that drought belongs to the Kansas City Royals as well. “Why not us” worked for the Red Sox, so why can’t it work for the Royals?
Kansas City is coming off a season, which had the most wins for the franchise since 1989. Not only that, but the Royals have brought everyone back besides Ervin Santana and have added talent to fill open positions. Among the added talent, right Fielder/ leadoff hitter, Norichika Aoki will help with speed and second baseman, Omar Infante will help at the plate.
Many believe that the Royals have finally made the moves and developed enough talent to make a run in the postseason. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports predicts that the Royals will not only make the playoffs for the first time since 1985, but that they will win the American League pennant and make it to the World Series as well. To many casual baseball fans this seems completely unrealistic and simply an analyst with wishful thinking, but there is actually a lot of evidence supporting Heyman’s comments.
The Royals come into the season with a defense rated by many as the best in baseball. To add onto that the same rating is often applied to the Royals bullpen. While the Royals top three starting pitchers might not compare to the likes of the Tigers and the Rays, many say that nobody will be able to compare to the other 22 players on the roster.
As the 2014 Major League Baseball season quickly approaches, Royals fans are asking themselves: “Why not us?” Why can’t we make a run at the playoffs? Why can’t we enjoy playoff baseball? Why can’t we make it to the World Series again and return KC’s winning baseball tradition? Why not?
The fact is that there is no good answer to any of those questions. The Royals have the best chance at accomplishing all of those feats that they have had in a long, long time. Be ready Royals fans. This year should be fun!