The Kansas City Royals do not like talking about last year. This whole season, they decided not to think about 2023. All that matters, according to manager Matt Quatraro, is today.
On the night the Royals won their first postseason place since 2015 with the Minnesota Twins losing to the Baltimore Orioles on Friday night, the 2023 season was mentioned many times.
And how far the team has come from it.
“This is the moment to take it in,” Vinnie Pasquantino said. “We were really bad last year. This year, we’re really good. And you get kind of emotional thinking about it. I’m super excited to be in this locker room right now. We’re happy to be here. And we’re not satisfied.”
Nine years after the Royals won it all and brought Kansas City its second World Series title in franchise history, they are back in the postseason. They’ll compete in the Wild Card Series next week in Baltimore or Houston, with seeding to be determined over the final two days of the regular season.
In 2024, the Royals became the third team since the expansion era began (‘61) to advance to the postseason after losing up to 100 matches the previous year. They join the 2017 Twins and 2020 Miami Marlins, but are first to lose 106+ and make it.
“To get to where we were from where we are, there’s so many people involved,” general manager J.J. Picollo, the architect of the turnaround, said. “So many people played a part in this. To see it all happen is kind of surreal. We felt like it was going to happen. But until it did, you just didn’t know.”
They finally got their moment on Friday, despite waiting for the Twins to lose to the Baltimore Orioles after they dropped their series opener to the Braves at Truist Park. But that didn’t matter to Royals when champagne was spraying and beers were flowing.
Bobby Witt Jr. had two empty beer cans strapped to his head with a cigar hanging out of his mouth with a goofy smile only a baseball-loving superstar would wear.
“This is what I dreamed of as a kid,” Witt said. “I saw the pictures. I bought the shirts. Now I’m in the pictures. And I have the shirt.
“It’s amazing what the front office and coaching staff did. And this team. I’m forever thankful. I’m glad to be here.”
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