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Kansas City Royals Win Respect From Across Baseball

By John Viril

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Sep 30, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar (2) dumps Gatorade on catcher Salvador Perez (13) after Perez hit a walk-off single to defeat the Oakland Athletics in the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Royals transformed the entire franchise with their iconic 9-8 wild card victory over the Oakland A’s Tuesday night.

Seriously. I’ll say it again, the Kansas City Royals transformed the entire franchise Tuesday night.

First of all, Kansas City’s win put them in the record books:

For nearly a generation, the Kansas City Royals were a joke.

Ridiculed by fans, and abused by sabermetric pundits that held up Kansas City as an example of how not to make decisions, the Royals have long been the laughing stock of major-league baseball.

Players didn’t want to play for the Royals. Agents used contract offers from Kansas City to drive up their market price more than any intent to play for the moribund Royals. Player contracts routinely included no-trade clauses that named the Royals because no one wanted to play for a dead-end team.

All of that changed Tuesday night. Last night, the Kansas City Royals earned respect from all of baseball.

Just look at what opposing players had to say on Twitter:

In the acid test of the post-season, with the entire industry watching, the Kansas City Royals pulled off not one, not two, but instead three comebacks to win Tuesday night. They refused to wilt under extreme pressure and performed with everything on the line.They overcame a 5-run 6th inning that would have put a weak-minded team in the tank.

This was baseball at it’s best, courtesy of the Kansas City Royals.

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Such a performance on the big stage can’t help but change how people look at the franchise, from inside clubhouses across the league, to baseball media across the land, and fans all over the world. The Kansas City Royals now have an identity: they are the team that will run wild on the basepaths and never quit until the final out.

Every team SAYS they play like that.

On Tuesday, the Kansas City Royals proved it on the big stage.

Such a day cannot help but affect how free-agents view the team. No longer will players run from an offer from Kansas City. No more will you see the Royals at the top of every no-trade clause. Last night, the Royals became the kind of team everyone would like to think they are.

Sep 30, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals relief pitcher Greg Holland (56) celebrates with fans after defeating the Oakland Athletics in the 2014 American League Wild Card playoff baseball game at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals won 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Tuesday’s victory cannot help but have an impact at every level of the franchise. As GM Dayton Moore’s “process” began to show fruit, players like Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas claimed they saw Royals as a “winning” franchise because they played on championship teams as they came up through the minors. Yet that talk seemed to be just that: talk. What players said because they were supposed to say it.

Now, the entire organization cannot help but believe.

That belief will yield fruit that extends well beyond this season—no matter what happens the rest of the post-season. Now, to a whole generation of fans, the Royals are not a team of sad sack losers. Instead, they are a team that won’t quit.

Whatever happens the rest of the post-season, the baseball world’s view of Dayton Moore’s Royals has forever changed.

Now, the Royals are the team that ran wild on Tuesday night.

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