The quest for 161-1 begins tomorrow!
Ed note: I mentioned this in the comments yesterday – I could probably just write “Hey, yesterday was Opening Day – What do you think?” and we’d get 200 comments here today. I’d like to think I do a marginally better job than that, so you get 2000 characters instead. However, since Opening Day provided more than enough to talk about today, I’m going to push off the NPB preview for another week. Both of my Asia baseball readers will be disappointed, but I’m sure they understand.
Of course, the big news was that yesterday was Opening Day. The Royals fell to the Twins 4-1. Cole Ragans looked good. The offense did not. Ryan already covered it here. I don’t think I need to block quote every single article about the Opening Day game here, but I’ll give some links below:
- Jaylon Thompson, of course, had recap duties at The Star.
- Dake Skretty at the AP wrote this game summary.
- MLB.com has whatever this is. They don’t actually have a traditional story, per se, with words and stuff.
- But Anne Rogers has us covered.
There was also some Opening-Day-adjacent content.
Before the game, the Royals made some moves:
We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/AdxHuf84sI
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) March 28, 2024
Which set the Opening Day roster:
Our 26 to open up ’24. pic.twitter.com/VubuDnGc2g
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) March 28, 2024
There are also stories on MLB.com that cover both the moves and the final roster. The Star (Thompson) also covers the roster.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid threw out the first pitch:
Reid, who was a baseball player and fan as a kid in Los Angeles (he could see the Dodger Stadium lights from his house), went into a windmill windup and got the ball to the mitt of his catcher, Hall of Famer and Royals legend George Brett.
There were also a lot of stories leading up to Opening Day.
At The Star, Sam McDowell profiles Bobby Witt Jr:
Before every game, Witt finds a quieter space in each clubhouse, home or away, and, outside the purview of his teammates, closes his eyes. Midway through last year, he added daily meditation to his routine, part of a checklist so precise that he attempts to stay within five or 10 minutes of a pre-set schedule before games.
The hotline is an ease-into-it opener to the day. A quick podcast arrives next. During the meditation, which he implements in the morning, at the ballpark and often once more before bed, he pays careful attention to his breathing techniques and visualizes the most pressure situations a game might provide — and then he visualizes success. It’s not always the home run, by the way. A sac fly can register. Maybe it’s as simple as moving a runner over.
Then Witt is on to a highlight video, which he too watches nearly every day, and it features a familiar subject: himself.
Pete Grathoff collected positive Royals predictions:
The Royals received two votes from ESPN writers who predicted the AL Central champion. The Twins are still the heavy favorite.
None of the six baseball writers at CBS Sports picked the Royals to win the Central. However, four (R.J. Anderson, Kate Feldman, Stephen Pianovich and Matt Snyder) have the Royals finishing third in the division, which would be a jump for a team that tied a franchise record for losses in 2023.
He also noted that the Royals went back to the smaller, ugly lettering.
But the Royals’ uniforms had not changed because team CEO/chairman John Sherman had pushed to keep them the same. Fans were thrilled that the Royals took a stand.
That exemption, however, is over. Fans watching Thursday’s opener against the Minnesota Twins will notice the Royals are wearing the new jerseys.
The Royals declined comment on why they had switched to the new jerseys, directing questions to Major League Baseball. A league spokesman said the lettering on the Royals uniforms had been updated so there is consistency with other Major League Baseball teams.
Maybe if no one had said anything (thanks for bringing that up, Sam!), we could have all Midwestern-ly pretended to not notice – like dad’s cheap haircut or cousin Pat’s questionable significant other. And maybe we wouldn’t be stuck with the crappy lettering.
Anne Rogers made seven predictions for the season:
5. A hard trade is coming
The Royals haven’t been afraid to discuss hard trades in the past year, whether involving Pasquantino or Salvador Perez, but they haven’t had to make it happen yet. Whether Kansas City is in the hunt or out of it by the Trade Deadline, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the club trade one of its young players — Brady Singer, MJ Melendez or Maikel Garcia, among others — to help the organization either short-term or long-term.
I’m not familiar with the Martin City Telegraph, but Brad Ziegler (is it this Brad Ziegler?) penned a Royals season preview:
Pre-season prognosticators and odds makers project that the Royals will add 15-20 wins to their 2023 record, but that level of success will require needed steps forward being taken by the younger players and healthy seasons from the veterans. Second-year manager Matt Quatraro and his staff are looking forward to working with the new options that General Manager JJ Picollo has provided them, a roster costing nearly $40 million in additional payroll. The MLB schedule maker will make it difficult for the team to get off to a strong start, however, as they face five 2023 playoff teams in 21 of their first 31 games.
Sadly, there’s some somber news involving a former Royals farmhand:
RIP Former Clemson Baseball Player Reed Rohlman passed away in an apparent car accident pic.twitter.com/AVCpijEm69
— Baseball Legends (@Leg_baseball) March 28, 2024
How about some league-wide listicles that feature the Royals?
Mike Axisa, CBS Sports, with his bold prediction for every team:
Kansas City Royals: Ragans will start the All-Star Game
After coming over the trade deadline last year, Cole Ragans was arguably the most dominant pitcher in baseball, and he’s continued to look excellent this spring. The fastball is humming in at close to 100 mph and the slider is wicked. The Royals have not sent a pitcher to the All-Star Game since Jason Vargas in 2017, and Brett Saberhagen in 1987 is the only Royals pitcher to start the All-Star Game. Ragans will join him this year. Remember, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy will manage the AL All-Star Team and the All-Star Game is in Texas. The scales are tipped in favor of a Rangers pitcher starting the All-Star Game, so we’re predicting Ragans — who was traded by the Rangers last year — is so good that he gets the nod anyway.
ESPN’s Anthony Gharib looks at new ballpark food. I have to admit the White Sox “campfire milkshake” looks good.
Kansas City Royals: ‘Back to Blue Burger’
Royals blogs were excited for Opening Day, too. Some of these aren’t going to seem very timely. But most of these were posted yesterday. However, Rumblings go out the door at 7am so anything posted in the morning ahead of the game gets delayed a day. More stories for me today! It’s a weird mix of predictions and recaps.
David Lesky went division-by-division with his season predictions:
I wanted to predict the Royals would win the division, I swear, but I just can’t get there. I think there is upside to add a handful of wins, and maybe enough to take away from the Twins and win the division, but I see a below average, but not terrible club in Kansas City this year. I think the Twins need some starting pitching, but they’ve done a nice job of getting more out of their pitching staff than you’d expect and their offense should be enough to overcome some of the issues. Now, they’ll be relying somewhat on a couple of guys who have had their share of injury issues in Royce Lewis and Byron Buxton, so things can go sideways for them. If Carlos Correa doesn’t bounce back, I don’t feel as good about them winning the division.
Craig Brown makes his predictions, too:
As is custom around these parts, I’ll give my prediction for the Royals record for the upcoming season, along with a stab at the final standings in the AL Central. Spoiler alert: They will reflect the general optimism of the new season after a winter of a front office going against the grain and actively trying to improve their ballclub. I’ll also chime in with a few wayward predictions that are sure to be horrifically wrong in six months time. I’m not foolish enough to recommend you bookmark this. Instead, I suggest you burn your internet after reading this.
At Powder Blue Nostalgia, Patrick Glancy has two posts, one for American League and one for National League:
I desperately wanted to pull a Yonder Alonso and pick the Royals to win the division, but as much as I like the moves they made, it’s a tall order to go from 106 losses to the playoffs. The key to the Royals’ improvement, especially in the long-term, will not be in their free agent acquisitions, but in whether their young homegrown talent can take a big leap forward. Bobby Witt Jr. needs to prove his breakout last season wasn’t a fluke, and guys like Vinnie Pasquantino, Maikel Garcia, Michael Massey, MJ Melendez, and others need to join him in the legit big-leaguer circle.
I’m more optimistic about the Royals than I have been in a decade, but if I take off my blue and white glasses, the Tigers look like the better pick to break out. Detroit and Kansas City appear very similar on paper and their rebuilds have often mirrored each other, but the Tigers took a big step forward in 2023, finishing second in the division. Obviously, their 22-win advantage in 2023 doesn’t mean a thing in the 2024 standings, but it does point to Detroit being ahead of the Royals in their race toward relevancy.
At Swinging Bunts, Hunter Samuels has “Questions for the 2024 Royals”:
Can JJ Piccolo duplicate some magic at the trade deadline?
Last year’s trade haul included Ragans, Velazquez, and James MacArthur, plus intriguing young players like Devin Mann, Derlin Figueroa, and Roni Cabrera. This year, if the Royals are not in contention, players like Will Smith, Chris Stratton, and Hunter Renfroe will likely be shopped to contenders.
I don’t know if it’s fair to expect another Cy Young candidate, but young arms with potential are always worth acquiring for rentals. The leaps that Ragans and MacArthur took after coming to Kansas City suggests the organization may be able to help pitchers more than they have in the past, and while there’s never a guarantee on that front, any improvement is nice to see.
Blog Roundup:
- Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History—1984 Edition: March 28 (it also has some fun history about the Colts leaving Baltimore)
- Zac Miller at FTF: Omaha Storm Chasers Announce 2024 Roster
- Jared Perkins at FTF: Cole Ragans shines, offense fails to produce
- Jacob Milham at KOK: Series preview: KC Royals, Minnesota kick off AL Central race
- Also, Milham: KC Royals energize fanbase with historic Opening Day roster
- Mike Gillespie at KOK: Is there a big flaw in the Opening Day lineup of the KC Royals?
- Also, Gillespie: 3 quick takeaways from a disappointing KC Royals Opening Day
- Joe Summers at KC Kingdom: 3 Former Royals Still Unemployed Heading Into Opening Day
Honestly, I know next-to-nothing about this song and had to Google it. Apparently, it’s called “Bad Day” by Daniel Powter. I have no idea who that is. But what I do know about it is that, in the mid-late 00s, when an opposing pitcher got lit up at Kauffman, they’d play this song as he was heading off to the showers. Let’s hope we get some of that action on Saturday.