A year ago, even the most optimistic Royals fans would have had a hard time envisioning the season playing out the way it did. The team was coming off its seventh consecutive losing season - three of which were 100-loss seasons, including a 2023 season where they tied a club record with 106 losses. Sure the team had invested in some free agents and had a promising young star in Bobby Witt Jr. But teams don’t just improve by 30 games and leap into the playoffs after a season like that.
The Royals did.
The team no one believed in won 86 games and reached the post-season for the tenth time in club history.