Kansas City Royals: Ten Best Seasons In Royals History

Best Seasons in Kansas City Royals History: 10. 2013 (86-76; Third In The AL Central)

Dayton Moore sent shock waves through the organization and through the fans as he made one of the biggest trades in franchise history.

The deal he made sent top prospects Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, and Mike Montgomery to the Rays in exchange for James Shields and some guy named Wade Davis. There were some other names involved, but these were the featured players in the deal.

Grantland called the trade ‘A Royal Blunder‘ in an article by Rany Jazayerli:

"This is a terrible trade for the Royals, deeply flawed in both its theory and execution, and while it might make the Royals marginally more likely to make the playoffs in 2013, it does irreparable damage to their chances of building a perennial winner."

Jake Odorizzi has turned into a quality big league pitcher. The Royals would be lucky to have him, but he still doesn’t have a ring. Wil Myers has yet to develop and may never shake the injury bug long enough to see his full potential. Mike Montgomery had a great start against the 2015 Royals, but again, no ring.

James Shield and Wade Davis did plenty to turn the Royals into perennial winners.

Fans were tired of waiting for ‘next year’. Season after season fans were ready for ‘next year’ to come around and it never seemed to arrive. Dayton Moore had spent seven seasons trying to build a winner and finally decided to start winning this year.

They also traded for Angels’ pitcher Ervin Santana. With Jeremy Guthrie entering his first full season as a Royals’ starter, the Royals finally had something that looked like a rotation brewing.

The Royals finished the season with a winning record for the first time in ten years. Had it not been for a dismal May that saw them drop 20 games, including eight by only a single run, the Royals could have had a shot at contending that season. Had they finished that month 12-14 as opposed to 8-20, they would have at least earned a Wild Card spot.

The Royals put together a second half that was a sign of what was to come. They finally played a dominate brand of baseball that was fun to watch. In the second half of the season they won the same amount of games, 43, that they won in the first half.

The difference was, in the first half of the year they lost 49 games compared to only 27 in the second half of the season. Had they played the full season at the same clip as the second half they were on pace to have a record of 99-63 which would have been good enough for the division and the best record in the American League.

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