MINNEAPOLIS -- One by one, Royals players stopped by a little cage perched on a coffee table inside the visitors' locker room before Friday's game against the Twins at Target Field.
Inside the cage was a mantis, the same one dubbed #RallyMantis by Royals Twitter, which right-hander Ian Kennedy and outfielder Billy Burns brought with them on the plane ride from Kansas City the night before.
The mantis had suddenly appeared hopping around in the Royals' dugout earlier this week and would not leave. Royals players quickly got attached to it. But now it was hardly moving.