It's not unusual for a team to get a hangover after a World Series title. What I mean is that the accomplished feeling of winning usually dulls the intensity the next season that prevents that team from getting back to the top of the mountain. Not every owner is George Steinbrenner after all. But, that hangover excuse goes away after a short while...so if a team goes a couple decades after a title without even sniffing the postseason, it becomes pretty alarming to a fanbase.
After their conquest of baseball in 1985, the Royals were in a pretty notable drought. As the streak of no October baseball was pushing 30 years entering 2014, Manager Ned Yost and company were looking at potential as they treaded water in the early goings. With the help of a 10 game winning streak in June, the Royals actually took the lead in the AL Central, sparking postseason hopes. Despite a slump that threatened to send KC to a familiar fate at the end of the year, they managed to right the ship and finished 89-73; 1 game short of the Detroit Tigers for the division title, but good enough to claim the top spot in the Wild Card standings. For the 1st time since 1985, the Royals had meaningful baseball to play in October.
The Wild Card game against the Oakland Athletics started as a back and forth affair, but the A's took a big lead thanks to a 5 run 6th inning. The Royals responded in the 8th with a 3 spot, but still trailed 7-6 going into the bottom of the 9th. Small ball saved the day as the Royals tied the game with a single, sac bunt, stolen base and a sac fly. The A's took another lead in the top of the 12th, but small ball again saved the day as the Royals capitalized on bad defense to tie the game with a single, steal another base, all setting up Salvador Perez to smack the walk off single to send the Royals to the Division Series.
The extra inning heroics didn't end there. Against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS, the Royals became the 1st team in history to win 3 straight postseason extra inning games. Mike Moustakas and Eric Hosmer would hit 11th inning homers in Games 1 and 2 respectively to set up the sweep in Game 3. The Royals kept rolling in the ALCS as the Baltimore Orioles put up no fight as Kansas City swept them away 4-0 to return to the World Series for the 1st time in 28 years.
In the World Series, the Royals and San Francisco Giants would split blowout wins in Kansas City before heading to California. For Game 3, the Royals would win a 3-2 nailbiter to take the lead in the series, but the Giants would muscle the next two games to send things back to Kansas City with the lead. The Royals would not go quietly as they blew out the Giants 10-0 in Game 6 to tie it up and set up the winner-take-all Game 7. Unfortunately for the Royals, that Game 7 is where Madison Bumgarner etched his name into history with his suffocating 5 innings of relief to keep the Royals at bay for the 3-2 Giants clincher.
Lorenzo Cain would help dominate the Orioles for the Championship Series sweep with 8 Hits, 5 Runs and a Stolen Base as he took home ALCS MVP honors. In the regular season his .301 Average led the team.
Gordon would lead the small ball minded Royals with 19 Home Runs, 74 RBI and 87 Runs. The all star would be just as valuable on defense as he won a Gold Glove.
The other offensive all star, Perez would win his 2nd straight Gold Glove in 2014. His postseason credentials that year would include a homer in Game 1 of the World Series, and the walk off single to win the Wild Card game against the Athletics.
Other lineup regulars. Escobar would lead the team with 165 Hits and 31 Stolen Bases. Moustakas (Game 1) and Hosmer (Game 2) would hit clutch homers in the ALDS, then both would homer in game 3 to seal the sweep. Moustakas would add 2 more in the ALCS sweep, and one more for good measure in the World Series. Hosmer would also add a Gold Glove to his resume.
Bench guys. The Brett Hayes card is a bit tongue in cheek. I intentionally made his picture of him in his catching gear to contrast with his +0 rating at the position. I also find his chart painful, yet tempting. 16-20 for homers is the only high point for a 4 on-base guy with no defensive value. Added to that is that it's all-or-nothing for the homers since 1-15 are outs on his chart.
You have to be dominating if I'm leading off the pitching staff with a non-Closer Reliever. Wade Davis would have that kind of season out of the bullpen with an ERA of just 1.00. He broke the Royals Reliever record for Strikeouts with 109, had 9 Wins and finished top 10 for the Cy Young. In the playoffs he continued his dominance with 2 Wins in the ALCS against the Orioles.
Finishing just behind Davis in Cy Young voting was the Closer Greg Holland. Holland would Save 46 games, pitch in the all star game and garner some MVP votes as well. He'd get the Save in 2 of the wins against the Angels in the ALDS, all 4 ALCS games and the only Save opportunity (Game 3) the Royals would offer him in the World Series.
Shields didn't get any Cy Young votes, but he did receive MVP votes in 2014. The workhorse would lead the team with 227 Innings and 180 Strikeouts as well as tie for the lead with 14 Wins. He'd also get the Win in the Game 3 clincher against the Angels in the ALDS.
The other 14 game winner for KC, Ventura had a strong rookie campaign, leading the staff with a 3.20 ERA. He capped off his year with a dominant Game 6 performance in the World Series, shutting down the Giants and tying the series at 3-3.
The other predominant Starters for the Royals. All 3 would contribute a win during the postseason run.
The other Relievers and other pitchers utilized that season. Frasor would be the winning pitcher of the marathon Wild Card game, and he'd add another Win in the ALDS.
Cards with tiny sample sizes are always a coin flip. Do good in your 1 or 2 innings of use in the season and you'll have a somewhat broken card like Rodriguez here...but have a bad inning, or 0.2 of an inning and you can have an unfair card in the other direction. Apologies to Donnie Joseph, but his dismal 0.2 inning performance may challenge for the worst Showdown card ever made if that was included in the official sets. I've seen hitter cards that would kill for that kind of chart.
