Kansas City Royals: Rivalry with Blue Jays short-lived
It might seem crazy now, but three years ago the Kansas City Royals won the World Series. In order to get there, they had to get past the troubling Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS. That rivalry has not continued, to say the least.
As the Kansas City Royals host the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game series at Kauffman Stadium, it’s hard not to think about how differently things were between these two teams three years ago. Back in the glory days, as Royals fans already refer to them as.
On the path to the playoffs, the 2015 Kansas City Royals had a lot of teams come after them. It was mostly American League teams who were envious of the Royals’ success the season prior (winning the pennant and all that jazz) and often times, opposing pitchers were beaning Royals batters or just picking fights in general.
The Toronto Blue Jays were one of the teams that Royals fans hated the most. Forget Brett Lawrie and his cheap shot slide into Alcides Escobar at second base. Forget Jeff Samardzija and the White Sox for causing a benches clearing fight that got several Royals suspended.
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No, the rivalry that Royals fans lived and breathed for during 2015 was the one against the Blue Jays. From Jose Bautista bashing Royals fans for voting their team into the All-Star Game to Bautista (yes, again) tweeting about losing respect for Ned Yost to Josh Donaldson getting into it with-then Royals pitcher Edinson Volquez, this was an action-packed series between the two sides.
The fight with Donaldson led to a benches clearing brawl between the two teams and it was setting things up beautifully for a potential rematch in the games that mattered the most. Sure enough, the Royals and Blue Jays both made it to the ALCS that year (Toronto, impressively enough, made it back after being down 2-0 in the ALDS against Texas).
The 2015 ALCS was riveting and fortunately the Kansas City Royals won it in six games and advanced to their second consecutive World Series. The Blue Jays made it to the ALCS again the next year, but fell to the Cleveland Indians.
Many Royals fans hoped this rivalry between the two sides would remain for a long time, but it died out quickly. There was little juice to the multiple series the two teams have played since then and it’s safe to this rivalry was a 2015 thing only.
Jose Bautista is no longer with the Blue Jays, which plays a small part of it, and Josh Donaldson hasn’t been nearly as good since that season. Those two made this rivalry what it was and Royals fans actually continued to boo them over the next year or so. Those days are long gone now however.
The Royals have no rivalries right now because they’re so bad. Toronto isn’t as bad as the Royals (then again, only one team is), but still sit 12 games under .500 and 30+ games back of the division lead. It is worth noting, however, that the Blue Jays are a part of a much tougher division. If they were in the AL Central, they’d probably be in contention to win it, and that’s really sad.
That 2015 season was so much fun and hating the Toronto Blue Jays added to the excitement for Royals fans. While the rivalry hasn’t lived on past 2015, fans of both teams won’t forget the hatred they harbored for the opposite side.