2015: The Royals came off a magical season which saw them exceed expectations by dominating the playoffs before reaching the World Series. In that series, they scratched and clawed their way to a seventh game against the Giants, where they fell two runs of capturing a long-awaited title for the city. Many baseball experts thought that the Royals would probably be a second or third place team in the AL Central and could not match the success of last season. 

But here's a funny thing, just like last season, the Royals chose to exceed expectations. Throughout that season, the Royals dominated the first half and sent six players to the All-Star Game. The second half was more of the same. Clinched the AL Central in convincing fashion and finished the campaign with the best record in the league at 95-67. The playoffs were not as easy as it was last year. Against a not-so-ready for primetime Houston Astros, the Royals had to overcome a deficit in Game 4 to turn the momentum in K.C.'s favor. They finished off Houston in Game 5. In the ALCS against a very hungry Toronto Blue Jays, the Royals were able to fend off the Jays, though Toronto took two games. The Royals were back in the World Series for the second straight season. With basically the same core, except Edinson Volquez and Ben Zobrist, the Royals used every phase of the game to become one of the best teams in MLB.

2015 WORLD SERIES

Against the upstart New York Mets, the Royals took a wild and wacky Game 1 that included an inside-of-the-park. But let's be honest, the Royals had this series in the bag. They entered Game 5 tied up going into extra innings when the Royals exploded for five runs in the top of the 12th to give them a cushion. Wade Davis was able to strike out Wilmer Flores to close it out. After years of bad drafting, terrible free-agent signings, atrocious personnel decisions and god-awful managerial strategies, the Kansas City Royals did it! They were on top of the baseball as the 2015 World Series Champions. Salvador Perez won World Series MVP. If you follow baseball, K.C. used brilliant drafting and shrewd signings and trades to build this championship team. Its a testament to a fan base who was patient and were ready for many long seasons for this to happen.

The aftermath is somewhat of a Shakespearan tragedy. As I stated before, the Royals are cheap. DIRT CHEAP! Players were starting to be traded away and many signed away to other teams. Sadly, during the 2017 off-season, Yordano Ventura was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. 

The Royals now are the carcass of a world championship team. One of the worst teams in baseball, the Royals are back at square one as they try to rebuild their farm system to equal that success from four years ago. It could be a long number of seasons where K.C. won't be competitive to the rest of baseball.

But for two seasons, the Royals bucked the trend and baseball was thankful for that.

(References: Baseball Reference, ESPN, SI, The Kansas City Star, Wikipedia, Baseball Stats, SB Nation, Fox Sports)

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