KC Royals: Single Most Important Moment in Franchise History

The KC Royals just won the 2015 World Series, their first championship in thirty years. It has been a wonderful, crazy ride, but this team’s defining moment didn’t come this season.

The Kansas City Royals and their fans have waited an extremely long time for this championship, and they have suffered through some absolutely horrible seasons. Sunday night’s late inning heroics will hold a special place in our memories forever.

As great as the 2015 season was, and how incredible this postseason has been, with all of those fantastic comebacks, the single biggest, most important moment in franchise history didn’t come in 2015.

As many big moments witnessed this season, from the blazing hot start in April, to the eight Royals to make the All-Star, to the seven multiple run comebacks in the playoffs, to the crowning championship moment on Sunday, none of these are that big, key moment that changed the history of this franchise forever.

As big as the Zack Greinke and James Shields/Wade Davis trades were, as important as the string of successful draft picks were, none of these were that defining moment either.

The moment that truly determined the immediate future of the Kansas City Royals franchise came on September 30, 2014.

That night, while trailing the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card game by four runs going into the bottom of the eighth inning, the KC Royals scored three runs to pull within one. In the bottom of the ninth, they tied it.

Finally, the Royals bullpen outlasted that of the Athletics, and they scored in the 12th inning to advance. The rest is now Royals’ legend.

Kansas City swept the next two series and battled with the San Francisco Giants through seven World Series games, leaving the tying run on third to end the season and their championship hopes for 2014.

The KC Royals came into this season with a mission. They started hot and played quality ball all season. They cooled just a bit in September when the American League Central was all wrapped up, but they regained some momentum during the last week of the year.

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Trailing four runs in game four of the ALDS against Houston, the Royals once again showed that resiliency they displayed in 2014. They found a way to come back in that game late to salvage the win and they finished off the Astros a game later.

They battled a powerful Blue Jays team, overcoming them in six in the ALCS, then took care of the flame throwing New York Mets in five games of the 2015 World Series to secure that championship.

The Royals were fantastic, never giving up, no matter what the situation, posting seven wins in which they trailed by two or more runs n the playoffs and World Series. It is an astounding accomplishment.

Let’s play what if, though, for just a moment. What if the Royals never made that initial, furious comeback against the Athletics in that Wild Card game. Manager Ned Yost would have certainly come under fire for using a worn out Yordano Ventura in relief. 

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The Royals would have gone home, and they would never have experienced that great postseason run last season. They would never have experienced that hurt of coming so close to a championship, but falling just short.

Sure, a loss to Oakland in the wild card game would have hurt, but it would not have hit home to the players, organization, and fans just how close they might be to winning it all.

If they don’t win that game, the organization doesn’t get that huge boon in revenue that comes from a long run in the playoffs. Would the Glass family have ponied up the biggest payroll, by far, in franchise history?

Would the money have been available to sign Edinson Volquez, Kendrys Morales, and Alex Rios? Would the players have had that chip on their shoulders going into 2015, or would it have been another spring training where they would merely set the goal to make the postseason again? 

It is highly doubtful any of these wonderful things that have occurred over the past 13 months would have taken place without that first, incredible comeback against the Athletics.

That run in the playoffs after the Oakland game showed the Royals they WERE good enough to compete at the highest level. The crushing loss to the Giants in game seven DID firmly place a chip on their shoulders. It DID show management the team could win now.

That comeback was a harbinger of things to come. This season, especially this postseason, that win against Oakland had to always be in the back of their minds. They played like they could overcome any deficit. And they did.

The Kansas City Royals are the World Champions. This team showed the entire baseball world there was another way to play the game – a way that could be successful against the best teams the Majors had to offer.

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It is doubtful all of this would have been possible without that one key moment – when the 2014 KC Royals decided they would not go quietly into the night. Thank you, Royals, for an incredible ride!