Major League Baseball Opening Day!
It’s one of my favorite sports times of the year. Every team and every fan base holds tight to optimism. Expectations run side by side with imaginations.
Hope, however slim, for a pennant is still alive and well in every fandom.
If we do this…
Or
If we can only do that…
Maybe, just maybe.
Win or lose, though, it’s still BASEBALL SEASON!
I’ve renewed my subscription to the MLB At-Bat app so I can listen to any radio broadcast each and every day of the season. Plus, MLB TV offers one game a day for free. Major League Baseball on the radio is one of the true joys of my life. It’s the perfect medium to follow an almost perfect game while still accomplishing other things, like gardening, biking, walking, writing, reading, mowing, etc.
As a lifelong Royals fan, I’ve never been more excited at the prospect of winning only 70 games in my life. I like this young group the Royals management has finally put together in Kansas City. I was so disappointed last spring when they lost their confidence in their young talent and kept or brought in a bunch of mediocre veterans. They wasted over half a season of development time and probably lost at least one future season where these kids will grow up to compete for a division title. 2017 and 2018 were huge missteps for an organization who seemed to understand what game they had to play in order to be cyclical competitive as a small market team.
To their credit, they woke up and ditched the sentimental philosophy for the youth movement in August and Royals baseball was exciting again for a few months.
My 2019 KC Royals Outlook
Until Salvador Perez got hurt, I had notions of a 2019 season hovering around .500. Without Salvy’s leadership and guidance of the young pitching staff, I predict they’ll win around 72 games in 2019. Pitching will be better. They have three solid starters in Keller, Junis, and Lopez with some potential veterans like Duffy to fill into the fourth or fifth starter role. The bullpen HAS to be better than it was last year (RIGHT?) and may result in a 10-win increase over 2018 when it sucked.
Defensively, I think they’ll be one of the best teams in the league. Their outfield speed alone shrinks real estate and keeps runners from advancing. The young infield will be solidly built around the middle of Merrifield and Mondesi, two players ready to break out as MLB stars.
The problem on offense will be consistently getting on base and scoring runs. Their roster will need to learn to work counts more efficiently and be aggressive with their speed on the bases. The young hitters will have to take some lumps and work their way up the learning curve. I am hoping for Alex Gordon to bounce back at least a little bit offensively and earn some of the money he’s made the past three years. Jorge Soler has potential. You can see it in flashes since he came to KC. He’s one of those guys who needs to stay healthy and keep his swing within himself. If he can have the breakout season I expect he has inside him, we might be able to hover around the 80 wins mark.
Final Royals 2019 answer?
Between 72-80 wins and if things fall into place, we may sniff the .500 mark. And listen, in the AL Central, .500 may be enough to win the darn thing this year.
Whatever happens, enjoy some 2019 MLB action!
I know I will.
THE COACH HAYS 