GO ROYALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shinatoo]

Runs scored is poor for sure but the promising indicator is the Royals rank second in baseball in hard-hit rate (47.8%) and rank last in the Majors in batting average on balls in play (.218). So there is a lot of bad luck and I expect them to start regressing to the mean.

[Chris Stritzel]

I'll once again say that the new stadium seems like a good business move for the Royals if they wish to have some revenue being generated year round to go out and get some better players and coaches. That doesn't help the current situation, but I could see this going down that path.

I think the current team had the ability to play incredibly well, but coaching might be where they're hung up. Just my opinion with no knowledge of this professional stuff.

[beautyfromashes]

With the #7 pick in the MLB draft, the Royals select HS catcher Blake Mitchell, the #32 ranked prospect. Let’s hope he ends up as good as Ashe Russell, Foster Griffin, Hunter Dozier, Kyle Zimmer and Bubba Starling.

[Cratedigger]

With the #7 pick in the MLB draft, the Royals select HS catcher Blake Mitchell, the #32 ranked prospect. Let’s hope he ends up as good as Ashe Russell, Foster Griffin, Hunter Dozier, Kyle Zimmer and Bubba Starling.

A little frustrated about this one... prep catchers have a horrible track record of big league success. If you're going to pick a catcher, why not pick Kyle Teel?

Just unnecessarily ballsy when the major league team sucks and the farm system is just as bad. And annoying to see the team always draft underslot (Bobby Witt being the one exception recently)

[Chris Stritzel]

7 wins in a row (current longest win streak in the MLB), two sweeps, and Witt Jr. hit his 20th home run. A good week for the Royals

[shinatoo]

7 wins in a row (current longest win streak in the MLB), two sweeps, and Witt Jr. hit his 20th home run. A good week for the Royals

Bobby with two MLB First. Two seasons with 20 HR and 30 SB (with 51 games to go). It's all outlined here.

Witt is one of just four active players with multiple 20-30 seasons at any point in their careers, joining Mike Trout (three), Ronald Acuña Jr. (two) and Jose Altuve (two).

Witt is 17-for-32 (.531) with four home runs, 15 RBIs and four stolen bases over his past seven games. He's the only player in AL/NL history with at least 17 hits, four homers, 15 RBIs and four steals in any seven-game span.

https://www.mlb.com/royals/news/bobby-w ... s-phillies

[phuqueue]

The Royals are the first team to win 7+ in a row with a sub-.300 winning percentage at least 100 games into a season since the 23-78 Cardinals won nine straight in 1907. I’m not about to weigh seven games more heavily than the 104 games that came before them but it’s been a fun week at least.

[beautyfromashes]

Man, I stopped watching the Royals in May! You guys are hard core fans.

[Cratedigger]

literally everything else about the 2023 Royals should be forgotten as soon as possible but it’s been fun seeing Bobby Witt come into his own.

First player in MLB history with 20+HR and 30+SB in each of his first two seasons

[Cratedigger]

We’ve talked a lot about attendance on here and in the stadium thread but Royals had more fans at their final game this year (20,662) than the Tampa Rays had for their playoff game yesterday (19,704).

Obviously Zack had something to do with that but I maintain that if the location is more convenient and (more importantly) the Royals field a competitive team, KC will come out to support. Team just needs to show some life on the field

[smh]

Sometimes I wonder if the new shorter games, which generally I like, might actually create a disincentive to attend games at a distant stadium like Kauffman. I'm stretching a little, but think about it: Now I'm paying $25 or whatever to park, paying $XX for a ticket but the event is over faster. On the one hand, I like that there is more action in a condensed timeframe. But on the other hand, now I'm driving out there only to have to drive back in short order.

Again, I'm stretching...but I wonder if this is a factor for anyone.

TL;DR I'm no longer spending a whole afternoon at the ballpark so I'm not sure if it's worth the drive/price.

[shinatoo]

I would agree, you are stretching. There is a curve on ideal game time and we went past the peak on the long side. We are back to game times from the 80's and there were no issues with attendance back then. If game times dropped to 1.5 hours, I could see your point. Also, I still had little kids, the shorter game times would have gotten me to more games, especially during school.

[Cratedigger]

http://gofos.co/3tTB5pE



This trend should scare the shit out of the MLB. They’ve made it incredibly difficult for fans to watch their games and have devalued the regular season through playoff expansion. Neither of these 5/6 seeds should be in the World Series. No wonder nobody is watching.

Sad thing is Game 1 and Game 3 were great to watch.

[TheUrbanRoo]

MLB did a fantastic job reviving the regular season this year with ratings and ticket sales.

I think what killed this World Series was the team selection, but yes it does appear the expanded playoffs has killed the World Series. It's too much.

The only thing that could aid the playoffs at this point is expanding to 32 teams as fast as possible, getting to 4 divisions per league, and then the 6 team playoff makes more sense. But right now...it's flopping until expansion happens.

[grovester]

I don't understand the line of thinking that is saying these 2 teams don't deserve to be in the WS since their regular season record wasn't the best.

Isn't that what we love about March Madness? The underdog, the team that squeaks in and makes a run?

These 2 teams beat the other teams in a series, not one off games!

[aknowledgeableperson]

MLB should not be playing the WS this late. NBA has started. NHL has started. NFL is in the middle of its season. College football is just warming up. Just too many other distractions. Not only in people's minds but also in the press.
At the same time let's face it these teams are not the best of their leagues. Yeah, people like to cheer underdogs but two of them against each other?

[Highlander]

MLB did a fantastic job reviving the regular season this year with ratings and ticket sales.

I think what killed this World Series was the team selection, but yes it does appear the expanded playoffs has killed the World Series. It's too much.

The only thing that could aid the playoffs at this point is expanding to 32 teams as fast as possible, getting to 4 divisions per league, and then the 6 team playoff makes more sense. But right now...it's flopping until expansion happens.

The only way to get an expanded playoff to work is to end the regular season a month sooner. Playing in November is just nuts. What if KC was in the playoffs (ok, that's a stretch)? We'd be playing the WS in sub freezing weather.

The expanded playoff is not a bad idea because MLB's business model doesn't foster parity like the NFL's so they try to make up for it by giving more teams a chance to get to the world series. Fix the business model so that it is more like the NFL's (particularly the salary cap) and this would not be a problem. A wider variety of teams would be competitive on an annual basis so no need for a 12 team playoff.

[TheUrbanRoo]

I've been saying for years now they need to start in mid-March and have the cold-weather teams play the first two weeks on the road in warm cities or indoor stadium cities and then wrap the postseason by mid-September.

[shinatoo]

I think the major issue is, why play 162 games if you have a third of the teams in the playoffs? Baseball is a streaky game so we have a long season to average things out. So either change the regular season back to 144 games or drop the number of post season teams. I vote for 144 games.

[grovester]

I think the major issue is, why play 162 games if you have a third of the teams in the playoffs? Baseball is a streaky game so we have a long season to average things out. So either change the regular season back to 144 games or drop the number of post season teams. I vote for 144 games.

Still too many!