Kansas City Royals: White Sox could become worthy adversary in 2020s
The 2020s have begun and the Kansas City Royals will look to get back to their winning ways this decade. It might be tough for them to make a splash in their division, as the White Sox are starting to turn the corner.
The Chicago White Sox went the entire 2010s without having won the American League Central and only making the postseason once. The Kansas City Royals won the AL Central in 2015 and made the postseason in both 2014 and 2015, both times making it all the way to the World Series.
The White Sox haven’t had a winning season since 2012, which came before the Royals started to turn things around. In other words, it’s been awhile since the south siders of Chicago have been respectable, but that could change as early as this year.
Chicago has been rebuilding for years now and we might finally see that come to fruition in 2020, but if not this year, then 2021 and beyond for sure.
The point: If everything falls right, this has a chance to be a sustained run for the White Sox. Of course, this is baseball, so not everything is going to, but the White Sox have put themselves into a very strong position not just for 2020 but well beyond.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 2, 2020
As you can see from Jeff Passan’s tweet above, the White Sox have made a lot of trades and free agent signings and now have locked up a lot of talent moving forward. As Passan notes, if this all goes according to plan, the White Sox are going to be a formidable opponent for quite possibly the next decade.
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That does not bode well for the Kansas City Royals, who are looking to get back to relevancy again after looking dreadful the past two years. The Royals looked respectable in 2016 and 2017, but fell from grace hard in 2018 after all of their key free agents left. Now, if they want to get back into the win column on a frequent basis, they’re going to have to go toe-to-toe with a White Sox team that’s looking pretty darn good.
Last year, the Royals went 10-9 against Chicago, but that was before this team acquired Yasmani Grandal and Dallas Keuchel, two key players who can help the White Sox take the next step. Their prospects and young talent are also going to be pivotal moving forward and they did all of that by making smart trades during their less than stellar seasons.
The American League Central has never been all that competitive, with the Twins winning the division pretty handily last year, and Cleveland dominating it from 2016-2018. If all of these trades and signings pan out (or most of them anyway), the Chicago White Sox have a chance to lock down the AL Central for the foreseeable future.
Must Read. Royals All-Decade Team for 2010s. light
The question now is… What will the Kansas City Royals do to try to compete with them and how soon will that happen?