Kansas City Royals are starting to get the recognition they deserve

The Kansas City Royals are leading a very good AL Central nearly a month into the season. People are finally taking notice of how good this team looks so far.

Sure, it’s only been 21 games for the Kansas City Royals, but not many people would have predicted them to be leading the American League Central and continuing to play well. That’s exactly what we’re looking at nearly a month into the 2021 campaign though.

The Royals are coming off a four-game sweep of the Tigers, who, yes, are lousy. Still, the Royals did exactly what they were supposed to do to a bad team and they can only play who’s on their schedule.

It took until last week for the Royals to lose a series and it came against the AL pennant-defending Rays for that to happen. The Royals might not be in this same spot a month from now, but right now, it’s hard to deny that they’re one of the best teams in the league. No one thought that’d be the case considering this team is just now exiting their rebuild phase.

The Kansas City Royals are getting noticed after their hot start to the season.

Alyson Footer of MLB.com had the Royals ranked No. 7 in her latest power rankings and the boys in blue jumped 13 spots on her list.

"Since the A’s are in the top five, we’ll dedicate this space to the Royals, who, at 13-7, have the third-best record in baseball, behind only the Dodgers (15-7) and the A’s (14-8). This is their best start since 2015, when those Royals opened the season 14-6. And we know how that season turned out.More from Kansas City RoyalsThis Plus-Money Bobby Witt Jr. Prop Bet is on Fire (Hit in 15/21 Games)!The Royals Need to Extend Bobby Witt Jr. ImmediatelyDraftKings + FanDuel Kansas Promos: INSTANT $150 Bonus Plus Two Chances to Win!3 Royals Players Who Won’t Be on the Roster Next YearLAST CHANCE to Claim $250 GUARANTEED Bonus With FanDuel and DraftKings Kansas Promos!"

It’s been an all-around team effort for the Royals, which is exactly what needs to happen in order for this team to be in contention late in the season. The pitching — both the rotation and the bullpen — has to be on point, the offense needs to be hot at the plate, and the defense needs to help bail their pitchers out of any jams they might get themselves in.

The Royals get a two-game series against the struggling Pirates and then head to Minnesota this weekend for their first series against the Twins. Things will really heat up next week when they return to Kauffman Stadium to host both the White Sox and the Indians.

It’s well-known that this division is tough, so if the Royals can be in a similar spot two weeks from now, this team might be playoff contenders after all. Not many people expected that to be the case in 2021.