MIAMI —
Eric Hosmer has been here before.
Almost this exact spot.
It was 2013, and the Royals team he was part of was a year away from making the World Series and two years from winning it.
The Royals didn’t realize how good they were, Hosmer has often said, until the middle of that ‘13 season.
They would take a series from the eventual World Series champion Red Sox and lose a series to the Astros, who would finish with a major league-low 51 victories. Take two of three from the wild card-bound Rays, lose two of three to the woeful White Sox.