KC Royals optimistic about momentum they’ve built in offseason and spring training
Spring training wins don’t mean anything, except when they do. At least that’s the tenor of the talk coming out of the Kansas City Royals complex in Arizona.
While nobody will take the Cactus League results as a direct indicator of success on the horizon during the regular season, the Royals have been trafficking heavily in faith and belief since an offseason that included the additions of first baseman Carlos Santana, outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Michael A. Taylor and pitchers Mike Minor and Wade Davis.
Sure, the Royals have made significant improvements since the end of last season. However, on paper they appear to fall short of the expected powers in the American League’s Central Division.
Those outside projections certainly haven’t clamped down the internal level of expectation and lefty aspirations as Opening Day starting pitcher Brad Keller made crystal clear on Monday afternoon.
“I think our expectation is to win the World Series,” Keller said. “I think if that’s not your goal going into every season, you’re doing this thing wrong. We have the team in here. We’ve shown it all spring training. Our bats have been there. Our pitching has been there. The bullpen has been nails. It has just been a fun camp.”
Keller said not winning a World Series will be a disappointment. In the past three seasons, all of which Keller has been a part of, the Royals posted records of 58-104 in 2018, 59-103 in 2019 and 26-34 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Finishing with the best record in Cactus League play certainly bolsters the idea that the offseason additions have made the club better, but even Keller did admit you “can’t really put too much stock” into those games.
“Winning here gives you a vibe going into the season,” Keller said. “We’re trying to carry that over and continue winning there.”
In some ways the Royals are also fighting against a carryover effect. Investing in spring training success serves as a way to counteract the “woe is me” or “here we go again” attitude that can turn into a self-perpetuating cycle of being downtrodden.
“Winning is a habit,” Royals manager Mike Matheny said of his team’s spring training success. “From Day One, we want to win. I love getting to the end of those days and knowing somebody is going to do something big. …
“Only because a number of us have been in that situation where you can’t help it, because you’ve been kicked so many times and have so few good results that you fight it, but you can’t help but anticipate things going in the wrong direction. And that’s a bad place to be. That’s why we make a big deal about wins, whether they’re spring training or they’re out on the back fields. It doesn’t matter.”
Getting out of the gates quickly might also further the Royals cause in that regard.
After all, they started off 2018 with a 7-21 record at the end of April. They followed with a 9-20 record by the end of April 2019, bullpen implosions made several of those losses particularly painful. Last season with a rotation ravaged by COVID-19, they started off 3-10 in a 60-game sprint of a season.
“I think getting off to a good start is really important for us,” third baseman Hunter Dozier said. “Just winning some games, getting that confidence going is going to be good for us to kind of get that swagger we’re looking for.”
While the Royals have added players with championship pedigree and playoff appearances on their resumes in Jarrod Dyson, Santana, Benintendi, Taylor, Minor and Davis, much of the homegrown core of the club in players such as Whit Merrifield, Dozier and Keller haven’t been in the playoffs yet. Adalberto Mondesi played a very limited role in the 2015 playoffs (one game, one plate appearance).
Dozier didn’t back down from or try to qualify Keller’s World Series expectations.
“I feel like that’s why we’re here,” Dozier said. “If your goal is just to make the playoffs, then once you reach it it’s like, ‘OK, now what.’ I truly believe we have a team that can go all the way. Saying it and doing it is two different things, but we’ve got to go out there and prove it.
“I think once we start winning some games, getting that confidence going, people on other teams will start seeing how good we really are. It’s all right to fly under the radar for a little bit and then come September sneak up on some teams. But we definitely have a team to make a really good run at it.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "KC Royals optimistic about momentum they’ve built in offseason and spring training."
