KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Last year, Kansas City’s resident baseball villain heading into the postseason was Royals manager Ned Yost.
He didn’t have a friend, except for every real-estate agent in town.
But Yost somehow got the Royals through an improbable wild-card win over Oakland and all the way to Game 7 of the World Series. His reward was a white hat to replace the black one he had worn out.
That black hat was later fitted for right-hander Johnny Cueto after a late-July trade with the Cincinnati Reds that brought Cueto to Kansas City to be the Royals’ ace.