Kansas City Royals: Fans have every right not to care about 2020 season

After three seasons of below .500 play highlighted by back-to-back 100 loss seasons, the Kansas City Royals have lost the fans won over by pennant chases in 2014 and 2015. Fans don’t – and should not – care about the team this year.

A few big headlines have occurred for the Kansas City Royals since they last took the field in 2019. Their previous owner David Glass sold the team and subsequently passed away (Rest in Peace Mr Glass).

John Sherman, the new owner, comes from the Cleveland Indians – a very sabermetric leaning organization – to the Royals, who, at times, thumbed their noses at the the mathematicians running baseball. As the Royals prepare for a season with the goal of not losing 100 games again, maybe it’s time to ask why anyone should care.

The short answer is you shouldn’t care.

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For years, this organization has straddled the fence with their direction and has led them to going nowhere, and boy did they go nowhere fast. After two seasons of great excitement topped off with a World Series victory, the Royals have fallen completely off the map and that was indicated by the team losing a combined 207 games over the past two seasons.

Dayton Moore has been on record saying that he doesn’t believe in tanking, which is unfortunate, because the Royals are thanking on accident while watching moveable assets value wasted on bad baseball teams.

Baseball fans watched the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins make moves and spend money with an intention of competing and contending for the playoff in 2020 and beyond. The Cleveland Indians are quickly approaching the end of their run, but are still a good team as long as players like Francisco Lindor play for the Tribe.

The Detroit Tigers are in the middle of their rebuild too, and then there’s the Royals, who did – Well, I’m not sure what the Royals did this offseason. Re-signing outfielder Alex Gordon and bringing in Maikel Franco from the Phillies (a former top prospect unable to make enough consistent contact) to merit more than a one year deal.

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As revenues and the cost of players goes up, the Kansas City Royals are sporting an ever impressive $69.9 million in payroll per Spotrac, placing them surrounded by organizations that are either, ahem, tanking or organizations that have mastered winning without spending. If you want any hope for the future, it’s that Sherman’s former team – the Indians – have sustained a level of success without really spending a ton of money.

An organization that spent no money and made no real effort to get better is expecting what exactly from their fans this year? Remember when Moore made comments about how he could never trade players like Salvador Perez and Whit Merrifield because the fans come out to see them, buy their shirts, etc.? I do as well, and I also have seen the fans staying away from the stadium, and doing so in droves. Why Moore has opted against this part of his job is beyond me, but he continues to do it for whatever reason.

What’s worse is that is anyone talking about the Royals even with Spring Training getting started? When listening to two radio stations during Spring Training, the only baseball talk is when Royals players are being interviewed.

Beyond that, the attention is still entrenched with the Chiefs and to a degree, with Sporting KC. Fans have checked out when it coms to the Royals. They don’t care, well – except for my father, but as a long time season ticket holder, he’s rather unhappy with what’s going on. He’s in the minority of people who care about the team however.

Dayton Moore and the Kansas City Royals have done something  and accomplished something truly difficult to do, and in a really short period of time. They took a city IN LOVE with the baseball team and just tore the rug right out from under their feet.

Five years after a parade that saw a city painted blue, fans don’t care. There’s nothing more dangerous than that. Angry fans still care. Happy fans spend money. Apathetic fans, well – They are almost impossible to convert back, because deep down, they don’t care.

That’s where the Kansas City Royals are at. No one cares and they shouldn’t care. Not until Dayton Moore and the organization picks a path and goes forward.