Kansas City Royals: What went wrong in 2017 season

The Kansas City Royals finished their 2017 season with an 80-82 record. It was a disappointing year for the team, but where did things really begin to break down for the boys in blue?

The 2017 season had the vibe of a “senior year” for the Kansas City Royals. At seasons end, everyone would be going off to the college of their choice and the band would be broken up. That’s basically what’s happening with this team, only instead of college, it’s another MLB team vying for that guy’s services on the mound or at the plate.

Simply put – 2017 was a rough year for the Kansas City Royals. Sure, it wasn’t as bad as the 1990s and 2000s, but this was a team that just had to be better than the Minnesota Twins in order to make the postseason and they weren’t up to the task.

Ending the year (and the era) at 80-82 and missing the postseason stunk, but we have to talk about what went wrong for this year’s team. That could help the healing process, or it could just make everyone feel worse. Either way, let’s jump into what went wrong for the KC Royals.

WHAT WENT WRONG IN 2017 – TRADING WADE DAVIS

No one was happy when Dayton Moore sent All-Star closer Wade Davis to the Cubs in exchange for Jorge Soler. We all knew that year one of the Jorge Soler Experiment would probably be rough, and rough is an understatement to how the first year went for Soler.

Davis went on to record 32 saves for the Cubs in 2017 and made it to his third All-Star Game while Soler barely could get onto the field for the Royals. Soler was so bad that the Royals went with rookie Jorge Bonifacio over him in the outfield and at the plate for the duration of the season.

Soler’s inaugural season in Kansas City was horrendous, as he finished the year with a .144/.245/.258 slash line and belted just two home runs in 97 at bats. Had the Royals had Davis in their bullpen for 2017, they’d likely have won at least a few more games.