Jack Merlino
It's October of 2014. The AL West division leader is the Los Angeles Angels, no shock there. Same with the Detroit Tigers in the Central. Oh, the Orioles made it too, that's good, it's nice to see the Sox and Yankees have their dominance in that division snapped. And in the AL Wild Card 1-game playoff, the Athletics will play the Kansas City Roy- <spits coffee all over morning newspaper> wait, the Royals?! When did this happen?
The Royals would go into that game facing Jon Lester and the Athletics. Lester, a top-notch pitcher in the regular season and a demigod in the playoffs, would duel with Kansas City, which was built around an unprecedented combination of pure speed and defense. KC probably didn't have much of a shot against the high-octane Oakland offense and starting pitching. So it's a nice story, but unfor- wait they beat Lester?!
Huh. Well, that was neat. Aah well, this was fun while it lasted but now it's Mike Trout's Angels in a five-game series beginning with two straight in Anaheim. Nice effort Kan- You're kidding, right?
Ok then. Must just be how the Angels are cursed in the playoffs for some reason. Or luck. Anyway, there's no way KC keeps up with the Adam Jones and the Orioles in the champ-....
ALRIGHT! Bring on the Giants. This team has something! I don't know what it is, but KC is going all the way, bab-...
Baseball is dumb. The Giants are dumb. Everything is dumb. Royals lose.
Fast Forward to 2015. KC came within one game (or the difference between a fast runner and Alex Gordon) of playing through the entire playoffs and winning a World Series in what was its first postseason since 1985. Despite the disappointing finish, the Royals were suddenly the new, fun team to watch, not just in the AL, but the entire league. There'd finally be someone with a legitimate claim to the AL Central title which for years was just a formality belonging to the Detroit Tigers. And maybe it could work. For the past three or so years, baseball has seen a dramatic shift towards pitching, defensive metrics, and a necessity for speed both in the field and on the basepaths. Kansas City seemed tailor-made to fit all of those new qualifications.
There aren't any stars on the team either, despite what any Royals fan will tell you. It's a collective effort, with a very high percentage of the players either being products of the farm system or spending an obvious majority of their career with the organization. To summarize, this was a dynamite job by GM Dayton Moore.
But something changed at the beginning of 2015. Kansas City couldn't wait an entire month into the season before getting into bench-clearing incidents with two teams within the AL West alone. As of April 23, they had been in five. FIVE. Let's look at this fairly, lest we sound like a blatant Kansas City hater/apologist. It all started with Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura jawing back-and-forth with Mike Trout. Ventura was lucky that words were the extent of the incident, because 1) Trout would've easily ripped his arms off and 2) MLB wouldn't have taken kindly to a sophomore pitcher on a small market team instigating conflict with the indisputable face of baseball.
Next was a hard slide by A's third baseman Brett Lawrie into shortstop Alcides Escobar. Some called in unnecessary. Others, a part of the game. The people in the first category quoted the second group after Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura retaliated by hitting Lawrie with a 99 mph fastball the very next day, "It's part of the game." It could've been over there. But it wasn't.
The day following Lawrie's HBP, A's pitcher Scott Kazmir would drill Royals outfielder Lorenzo Cain in the foot. Then, tensions reached a climax when reliever Kelvin Herrera would throw another 99 mph fastball behind Lawrie, then proceed to gesture at his head following his ejection. That was the moment where Kansas City became baseball's bad boys.
There's no rule that says there needs to be a 'Villain' or 'Bad Boy' team in baseball. Usually, one team will sort of just gain the reputation as it goes along based on its players' on-field antics. In recent years you could look at the Arizona Diamondbacks, Milwaukee Brewers, and even the Yankees will go through spurts of annoying the entire country.
The Royals would have another highly publicized issue after that, when they were in Chicago playing the White Sox. Ventura, for what seemed like the millionth time to the rest of the country, got things started when he shouted an obscenity at White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton as the latter ran out a ground ball. The dugouts erupted, and punches were thrown. White Sox pitcher Chris Sale allegedly felt so wronged by the incident that he sought out Ventura for a fight in the visitor's clubhouse after they were both ejected from the game.
Next, Kansas City's fans made their presence known as the fan voting for the American League's All Stars commenced. At one point controlling 8 out of 9 spots (including second baseman Omar Infante, who was arguably the worst player in the league), the fans held up their part of the bargain in turning Kansas City from the sweet, small-market underdog they were less than a calendar year before, into an obnoxious, ballot-stuffing, fight provoking collection of minstrels.
It's not even a bad thing what's happened to Kansas City, as long as they keep winning; there's nothing more hate-able than a garbage team that treats others like dirt. They've seemed to accept the role bestowed upon them by the national audience. It works for some teams. It works better for certain people. It's a good way to be remembered. It's a great way to get a target painted on your back. It'll be that much sweeter for the team that knocks them out in October. It'll be that much more agonizing for whomever they knock out in October.
Keep your eyes peeled, Major League Baseball. There's a new bad boy in town. And they look like they're staying.
No comments :
Post a Comment