u25aa With apologies to the 2014 Kansas City Royals and acknowledgment of their run to the World Series, I’ve always considered three teams to be in a battle for the best in Royals history. They are: 1977 (102-60, lost 3-2 to Yankees in best-of-five ALCS); 1980 (97-65, lost to Phillies in World Series); and 1985 (91-71, won 4-3 over Cardinals in World Series).
u25aa This season’s Royals, though, might be the best team in franchise history. I think it is, even though there are no stars. Those other great Royals teams had stars, most notably George Brett. But there were also Frank White, Amos Otis, Willie Wilson, Hal McRae, Paul Splittorff, Dennis Leonard, Dan Quisenberry, Bret Saberhagen.