KC Royals: Times Sure Have Changed For Royals Fans

Sung Woo Lee –  Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

The 2014 season was the first time I had ever ached for baseball to arrive.

I remember when I was a kid, it felt like baseball was the longest running sport season wise. It seemed like once the World Series was over that teams were already reporting to spring training shortly after. Obviously that’s not true, but as a Royals fan, the season was basically done in June and the rest of the MLB year sort of just drug by.

2014 was different though. I just had a gut feeling that this team would be better than they were in 2013 and finally punch their ticket into the postseason.

Who chose to be a Royals fan in the 90s? It seemed like even people in Kansas City didn’t want to be associated with the Royals.

I even got to attend my first Opening Day at the K, one in which Jeremy Guthrie earned the win against the Chicago White Sox. It was only the first home game of the 2014 season, but fans had no idea that Kauffman Stadium would be the host for the final game of the Major League Baseball season that year.

As the season rolled on, more and more fans were drawn into this team.

Bars had the game on. People had watch parties with their friends. The people of Kansas City were captivated by something – Royals fever.

The most exciting part during the regular season was when Sung Woo Lee came to Kansas City. Lee was a diehard Royals fan since his childhood, which is weird to imagine considering he’s from South Korea. Who chose to be a Royals fan in the 90s? It seemed like even people in Kansas City didn’t want to be associated with the Royals.

While Lee was in town, the Royals went on a ten-game win streak and took the lead in the American League Central. The Royals held onto that lead for an entire month, but ultimately it came down to the fact that the Royals couldn’t defeat the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers had the Royals’ number every time the two met, including an ugly Friday night game where the Tigers lit up Jason Vargas to basically determine the direction of the division.

It appeared that once again, the boys in blue were not poised to win the division and if they wanted to get into the playoffs, they’d have to do it via a Wildcard game. Fortunately for the Royals, they had an entire city behind them who believed they could get the job done.

Next: Wildcard