Twas' Opening Day Eve and all through the K, not a Slugger was sleeping, not even Michael Tay. With Merrifield and Perez all snug in their beds... Eh forget the whimsical poetry let's get to baseball. The Royals kick off the regular season tomorrow at home against the Cleveland Guardians (It's much better than their old name and logo but goodness the generic rebranding of both them and Washington is exactly NOT how to do a sports rebrand) and coming off a year where they broke even in terms of record, the team is looking for something more. Speaking of more, Dayton Moore believes this squad is motivated and able to put butts in seats this year to watch a good show, and by golly I hope he's right.
I'm going to be frank here: The Royals are more than likely looking at a year similar to last year. If Spring Training is any indication pitching is still nothing spectacular and while the offense seems to be going we'll just have to see if it carries over into the regular season AND can make up for the bad pitching IF this streak of giving up 4+ runs per game isn't broken. The Royals have time to turn it around though, and they seem to be all in on Dayton Moore and Mike Matheny. While there were questions about both jobs going into Spring Training being on the hot seat, I think it will be THIS year that they need to prove themselves, at least Dayton Moore. I think the Royals do have a shot at making a postseason run, if the pitching can get better and veteran leadership via Greinke and others can take the reigns and make their teammates better. If things go sour this year, I think Moore has a possibility of being fired. There will absolutely be scout team changes and pitching staff changes as well, but how many of those do we make before it is a GM problem and not those smaller pieces to a complex system of a Major League Baseball team? How long will the Royals give Moore is a question we should ask this year, and if the team underperforms, it becomes a MUCH bigger question next year. This will be a prove it or lose it year for many in the Royals franchise. I think they will prove themselves all things considered, being the optimist that I am known for, but if not it could spell a major cleaning of house for the Royals.
Burn Notice: 10/10 Fireworks on Buck Night. Give Me Back Buck Night, you cowards. No funny business here I want me a hot dog. Dang inflation...