About 3 1/2 hours before the first game of the 2017 baseball season, Royals manager Ned Yost sat inside his office at Target Field and confided his most pressing curiosity.
It’s easy, of course, in the shadow of a disappointing 2016, to wonder about an offense that ranked 13th in the league in runs scored and a starting rotation rocked by tragedy in the offseason. But Yost is an optimist by nature, a believer in players and process and track records. And yet, as he stared out at 162 games, looking toward a season that could shape the trajectory of the Royals’ franchise, he had an overriding thought.