Kansas City Royals: 11 defining moments from past decade

With the decade winding down, some reflection is in order regarding the Kansas City Royals, a team that started the decade with 95 losses, ended it with 103 losses, and won two pennants and one World Series in between.

What an interesting decade for the Kansas City Royals. Between 2000 and 2009, the Royals enjoyed a single winning season in 2003 when they went 83-79–and missed the playoffs. That decade ended with the Major League squad dropping 97 games, the most the team had lost in four years.

But after 35 games in 2010, the Royals made a managerial switch, going from Trey Hillman to Ned Yost. For a team that cycled through four managers in the aughts, changing managers was nothing new. Yet, that would be the only change on the bench for the entire decade.

Yost oversaw two of the greatest, most exciting Royals teams in the franchise’s history while also presiding over five losing teams, four of which lost at least 90 games, two of which lost at least 103 games.

With Yost’s recent retirement, an era ended. And it was quite the perfect time, too, with the end of the 2019 season. 2020 is just around the corner, and I hope that next decade provides even half the excitement of this past one.

Here’s a look at 11 defining moments for the Kansas City Royals from the last decade.