The Royals are 3-9, the 3rd worst start in franchise history (They've been 3-9 multiple times before, so it's TIED for 3rd worst...I guess. Does it really matter?) Low crowd attendance, blowouts followed by choke jobs followed by the occasional decent performance, and an overall sense of dread have plagued this team since winning the World Series back in 2015. A change in management along with a change in front office operations have done next to nothing so far, which yes, is what we expected, but that's just it. This is the same old Royals, and two things have followed this franchise around forever: Apathy and Inconsistency. We will focus on the latter of the two, considering we've talked about the first at length in previous articles.
Inconsistency has plagued this Royals team since the day it was born in 1969. Part of it has to do with them being a small market club not able to afford big name talent, but that's certainly not all of it. Small market teams have the ability to be good, consistently good at that. For the Royals, anytime they have been good, it's felt like it's pure luck. Yes, talents like George Brett, Frank White, Alex Gordon, and others have blessed this team, but the reason 1985, 2014, and 2015 all felt lucky is that the Royals have this consistency issue. They've been okay at best to downright awful at worst, and once in a blue moon they're good, which is a big problem.
The problem has grown and festered now. Nowadays, it's a GAME-BY-GAME, POSITION-BY-POSITION issue. One game the pitching staff is sitting down batters, the next they're giving up 8-10 runs. One game the bats are hot, the next? They're not, and again, once in a BLUE MOON they're firing on all cylinders both offensively and defensively. This is why the apathy has developed, because while we know what to expect, we don't, and 99.9% of the time we are unpleasantly surprised as a fanbase, and now we're done. This team constantly contradicts itself, takes one step forward then two steps back on an inning-by-inning basis, wants to play the young guys but at the same time doesn't, and overall, just can't make up their mind as to what the mission is for this team. If the mission is to win, then win, though this is not the team to try and follow that mission. If the mission is to develop and recognize that you want to give the future of your team some major league appearances, then do so, but have a mission please. With the current team, you can't do both, and frankly speaking I think a lot of the fanbase would prefer if you just kept it consistent. We've dealt with inconsistency for so long, and that's all we're asking for as a fanbase. I think most of us want to see the young guys develop and recognize that wins won't come in droves with the current roster, so please develop this team and stop trying to revitalize any veteran's already washed-up careers. It may have worked in 2015 with Kendrys Morales and others, but it's not working now. In other words, maybe that second mission is what you should focus on, but if you truly want to go for wins this season, at least keep it consistent and quit crushing the hopes of this fanbase. It's starting to drive people away.
Burn Notice: 9/10 Dumpster fire status: Nothing new...
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