The 2019 season was, for the KC Royals, an expected disappointment. The Royals hadn’t finished with a winning record since the 2015 World Series championship season; although they were .500 in 2016, their 80-82 2017 record signaled, together with the departures following that season of core players Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar, the coming of an unfortunate but anticipated downturn of the franchise. The club’s 104 losses in 2018 confirmed its arrival.
Even with the unexpected 2018 return of Moustakas, a player burned by the peculiarities of the free agent market, expectations were low for the depleted Royals.