Once the parade ended and the hangovers subsided from the glorious 1985 season, you could tell that the Royals had fully embraced a rebuild, most of it on the fly. The team stayed competitive while replacing mainstays of previous pennant-winning teams. Guys like John Mayberry, Cookie Rojas, Freddie Patek, Darrell Porter, Al Cowens, Amos Otis, Hal McRae and John Wathan. The pitching staff was new, and younger. Gone were older stars like Steve Busby, Paul Splittorff, Larry Gura and Doug Bird. That’s some serious talent to replace. Eight of those twelve are in the Royals Hall of Fame.
General Manager John Schuerholz had begun to put his stamp on the franchise, for better or worse, and 1986 represented a full-blown overhaul.