Ten years ago, the Royals were awful. They were worse than awful. It was as if they weren't really a part of Major League Baseball. They were there on the schedule, like an anonymous Division III school set up on the schedule of a powerhouse college athletic program, and you're not sure if the game is an exhibition game or a real game. Either way, it was a nearly automatic win.
The Royals lost. A lot. They lose 100 games or more in four of five seasons between 2002 and 2006. The Kansas City Athletics - a pathetically bad franchise that was so inept it moved to Oakland - never had a stretch like that.