The Royals surprised the baseball world last off-season by spending over $100 million on free agents, among the highest-spending teams in baseball. The additions significantly upgraded the starting pitching to give them one of the best rotations in baseball, and added enough to the roster to improve the team by 30 wins, earning their first playoff appearance since 2015.
What was most surprising about the Royals’ spending is their status as a small market team. Kansas City has a fraction of the people that markets like New York and Los Angeles have, and the Royals have had to settle with a local television deal that pays them much less than larger markets (and now has an uncertain future).