The Royals really ought to thank the A's for being the catalyst that led to the Royals winning a world series and being baseball's most frustrating team to face for the duration of the late 2014 and 2015 seasons. After literal decades of mediocre-at-best and unwatchable-at-worst baseball coming from a team that shares a state with the (arguably) most successful, best run franchise in the entire sport for the same timeframe, the Royals caught fire in the 2014 Wild Card play-in game that still stings the A's fanbase to this day. The Royals would zig and zag and zip through the playoffs that year, confounding their higher-budgeted, more well-renowned opponents like a mongoose taking down a confident cobra, right up until they bumped into one Madison Bumgarner in game 7 of the world series.