Maybe this is penance for that one October night in 2014, cosmic justice for a performance known in Kansas City by four words: The Wild Card Game.
How else to explain this, an eighth straight defeat at the hands of the Oakland A’s, three of those losses by at least eight runs, a stretch of domination that continued Wednesday with the Royals’ 8-3 loss at Kauffman Stadium.
Maybe you can blame karma. You could also start with an anemic offense. The Royals were nearly shut out for a second straight game, opening their home schedule with 19 scoreless innings.