2014 Opening Day: A Look At The Kansas City Royals Roster

Kansas City Royals SP

Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

This is “The Year”. This has always been “The Year”.

Dayton Moore said that it would take “eight to 10 years” to build this team into a contender. To turn the franchise with the longest playoff drought in all four major sports into a winner. To turn arguably one of the most depressing teams in Major League Baseball into champions. That time is now.

Last season brought results that many young fans have never seen before from the Royals: an above .500 record. While this was certainly reason for fans to celebrate, there is no way the players could be satisfied with this result.

Many starters were used to winning, whether in high school, in college, or in the minor leagues, where many of our squads are perennial power houses. Sure, they won more games than they lost, but they had failed once again to bring the one thing the fans need more than anything: a playoff berth.

Is this the season where they finally make that happen? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, I’ll break down why we have a shot of having a chance at royalty this time around.