It’s a Friday in March in Arizona, a little more than three weeks into a shortened spring training.
The Royals stretch as usual, their routine structured by a color-coded spreadsheet tacked to a corkboard in the clubhouse and displayed on a monitor by the players’ exit.
There is no room on the schedule for deviations. Even on this day, the morning after reports swirled that All-Star third baseman Mike Moustakas was coming back to Kansas City on a one-year contract, there is no room for players to dwell on anything but the task they’ve been assigned.
Because Moustakas’ reunion with the Royals doesn’t change the fundamental truth about this 2018 squad: Unlike the last four years, there is no expectation to contend for a division championship or a wild-card berth.