Kansas City Royals: Opening Day starters over past decade

2013 AND 2014 OPENING DAY STARTER – JAMES SHIELDS

Before the 2013 season, the Royals made a blockbuster trade in which the team acquired James Shields, Wade Davis, and Elliot Johnson from the Tampa Bay Rays for Wil Myers, Jake Odorizzi, Mike Montgomery, and Patrick Leonard. While Davis would be around when the Royals won the 2015 World Series, at the time, Shields was the big-ticket item. And his two years with the Royals, he started both Opening Days, in 2013 and 2014.

In 2013, a year in which the Royals would finish 86-76, ten games above .500 for the first time since 1989, Shields squared off against Chris Sale, the ace of the White Sox, in Chicago on April 1st. In his Royals debut, Shields gave up one earned run off eight hits while striking out six and walking none. The one run came off a Tyler Flowers solo home run to lead off the fifth inning.

It was the only run of the game. Shields took a loss in a 1-0 Royals defeat.

But Shields would rebound nicely. For the year, he started 34 games (a career-high) while leading the American League in innings pitched with 228.2. Over that span, he went 13-9 with a 3.15 ERA, 131 ERA+, 3.47 FIP, 1.238 WHIP and 196 strikeouts.

He got the call again in 2014, this time in Detroit against Justin Verlander. In the first game of the season where the Royals would finish first in the Wild Card and advance to their first World Series in 29 years, Shields received a no-decision after going 6.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits, one walk, and three strikeouts.

In something of a rarity for that year and the following, the bullpen imploded. Aaron Crow blew the save, Wade Davis took the loss, and Greg Holland was on the mound when Detroit won it in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off single.

Again, Shields would rebound. He started another 34 games while compiling a 14-8 record with a 3.21 ERA, 123 ERA+, 3.59 FIP, and 1.181 WHIP over 227 innings pitched while striking out 180 batters.

And then he was gone.