On Sunday night, the calendar indicated that 15 days remained until the Royals open the season against the Minnesota Twins on April 3.
Ian Kennedy appears ready for it to begin right now.
On a warm night in Arizona, Kennedy dominated a decent approximation of the defending world champions, posting six scoreless innings and seven strikeouts in a 6-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
As a sold-out crowd of 15,497 filed into Sloan Park, with fans transforming the outfield grass berms into spring training’s version of Lollapalooza, Kennedy allowed just three base runners. He needed just 72 pitches to navigate the evening.