KC Royals: Buster Olney Predicts Royals To Lose 2016 World Series

ESPN’s Buster Olney thinks that the KC Royals will return to their third consecutive World Series in 2016, but ultimately has them on the losing side.

The Kansas City Royals are coming off their first World Series title in three decades. They’re also coming off back to back World Series appearances and are the two time reigning American League champions.

With all of that said, it’s easy to bet against the teams that tend to succeed because of just how darn difficult it is to get to the World Series. The Royals defied the odds last season by making it all the way back to the World Series, but it’d be pretty crazy if the boys in blue could get to the fall classic for a third straight season.

Buster Olney of ESPN thinks just that will happen in 2016. Olney tweeted on Thursday that he thinks the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series in 2016 over… Who else but the KC Royals?

Olney has the Royals winning the American League Central again and squaring off against the Cubs in the World Series. As we all know, the Cubs are the lovable losers in Major League Baseball, but they might not be such big losers in 2016.

The Cubs acquired Jason Heyward, John Lackey, and Royals fan favorite Ben Zobrist to complete an already stacked young group of players in Chicago. The Cubs will certainly be a force to be reckoned with in 2016, but at the same time, they’re the type of team that once they seem to get good, they end up tanking.

While I think the Cubs will be playoff contenders in 2016, don’t jump the gun too much on this World Series stuff. They haven’t even been to the World Series since 1945.

Back to the Royals, however, there’s obviously a chance that they make it back to the World Series. They’re the reigning World Champs and have kept a large part of their core from last year in tact.

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It will be difficult for them to make it to their third straight World Series though, as it hasn’t been done since the 1988-1990 seasons when the Athletics did it.

As for the rest of Olney’s predictions, he has the Rangers winning the AL West and the Tampa Bay Rays winning the AL East. The Tampa pick is a little surprising, but hey… Everyone loves a good dark horse pick. He also has the same Wild Card matchup from last year in the Astros and the Yankees.

For the National League side, Olney has the Giants, Cubs, and Nationals winning their divisions, and the Cardinals and Pirates squaring off in the Wild Card game.

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While it’s certainly too early to be making legitimate World Series predictions, anyone having the Kansas City Royals going back for a third straight season is okay in my book.