KC Royals: Johnny Cueto Helped Team Win It All

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The KC Royals won the World Series in 2015, and while it was an entire team effort, fans can certainly thank Johnny Cueto for getting their first title in 30 years.

Johnny Cueto wasn’t the most well liked guy during his short tenure as a member of the Kansas City Royals. He didn’t pitch all that great during the regular season, failed to show up to a fan event, discussed possible teams he might end up with in the future, and would be seen laughing when performing poorly.

With all of those things in mind, Cueto did do his part for this Royals team. He may not have pitched like an ace during the regular season, but he did his part during the postseason.

Sure, Cueto had some stinker performances in the playoffs, but when push came to shove, he pitched like an ace.

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Take Game 5 of the ALDS for example.

Cueto showed up in a big way in that one, going eight innings and only allowing two runs in an eventual 7-2 victory to advance to the ALCS. Cueto really should have had a shutout in that game, but an inning ending play didn’t happen the way it should have and the next guy up blasted a home run to right.

Cueto’s other dominant performance, and most memorable performance at that, came in Game 2 of the World Series. Cueto hadn’t pitched in a World Series before, but man did he make it look easy!

He allowed two hits and ONE run in a complete game against the New York Mets. It was phenomenal, and showed exactly why Dayton Moore went out and traded so many young pitchers for this guy. He got it done on the mound, and got the Royals their first championship in 30 years.

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Looking at the future, it’s easy to assume that Johnny Cueto won’t be back in Royal blue next season. That’s okay with fans too. Cueto came to Kansas City to do one thing, and that was to help them win the World Series, and he did that. The trade was worth it.

Cueto will now likely go to a team that is willing to give him the long-term high salary contract he’s seeking. The Royals won’t be that team, and that’s okay.

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It’ll be interesting to see if Cueto performs well moving forward or if he struggles like he did during his regular season performances with Kansas City. Only time will tell.