As a born and raised fan of the Royals, baseball hadn’t been fun. For the better part of the past decade, there had been virtually no postseason aspirations. They hadn’t played a playoff game since winning the World Series in 2015. That was also the last year they finished with a winning record and better than third in the AL Central. Most seasons since then, any hopes of returning to the postseason were over before the country shot fireworks off.

That changed in 2024.

It started in the offseason. The front office made significant signings for the first time since the World Series run in 2015. Seth Lugo, Michael Wacha, Garrett Hampson, Sam Long, Will Smith, Chris Stratton, Hunter Renfroe, Adam Frazier, and John Schreiber were all brought in prior to the start of the season. While some of them certainly had their rough stretches, all of them contributed to bringing life back into Kauffman Stadium.

With the team right in the thick of the playoff race at the trade deadline, the front office made even more moves. They made trades to bring in Hunter Harvey, Michael Lorenzen, Lucas Erceg, Paul DeJong, and Yuli Gurriel. They also brought in Tommy Pham off of waivers. Again, they had their ups and downs. However, they all contributed to the Royals making the postseason for the first time in nine years.

On top of all the offseason acquisitions, the home-grown talent showed life and promise. Bobby Witt Jr. had the best Royals single season since George Brett won MVP in 1980. Salvador Perez had his best season since his 2021 outburst. Guys like Vinnie Pasquantino, Michael Massey, and Freddy Fermin had breakout seasons, helping Witt and Perez carry some of the offensive workload. On the mound, Cole Ragans had a major breakout year, becoming one of the best pitchers in all of baseball alongside Seth Lugo. Brady Singer got back to his 2022 form, while guys like Angel Zerpa and Kris Bubic were vital to the bullpen’s late season dominance.

The Royals have relied on their organizational development to provide the backbone of their success for more than a decade. It worked during the 2014-15 runs when guys like Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, and Perez exploded onto the scene. While I won’t say that this team is on quite that steep of a trajectory, the parallels are certainly there. Guys like Witt, Pasquantino, and Massey are young and (in the case of Witt and Pasquantino) already some of the best players at their position. The bullpen, while no comparison to the ’14-15 unit (which was an all-time group), looked REALLY good the final couple months of the season. The starting pitching was even better than the World Series winning rotation. In other words, don’t be surprised if this is just the beginning of a prominent run for the Royals.

This team showed life. It showed fight. This team had fun…and so did we.

So thank you 2024 Royals, for making baseball fun again.