WHEN A TEAM finds a successful strategy in pro sports, it has long been the expectation that its competition will shift toward that strategy. The typical refrain: "It's a copycat league."
If that's the case in Major League Baseball, shouldn't the replicating felines be conducting thorough investigations of last season's Kansas City Royals?
The 2024 Royals were a historically remarkable team. Kansas City won 30 more games than it did in 2023. If you prorate every past team to a 162-game season for comparison, the Royals authored just the 14th year-over-year leap of at least 30 wins since 1901.