If anyone could get into the HOF for a single postseason performance alone, it’s Hoch. He had what, 10.2 innings and zero earned runs? Might not have won G2 of the ALCS and G4 and G5 of the WS without him. Dude was just utter nails.

Maybe my WTF for Beltran was a bit harsh. He was pretty damn good for KC. But still, no one outside of us remembers him as a Royal and he was here so long ago, just still would seem weird to throw him in the HOF.

Oh he definitely was and yes G2 ALCS working out of that jam against the Jays is criminally overlooked - he kept them in that game to enable the comeback to be possible. As an aside, G2 2015 ALCS might be the most underrated great Royals win from that postseason. That was unbelievable!

Hochevar also had a tremendous 2013 season - if not for TJ surgery, he’s in the pen for 2014 (but also that would have meant Wade’s transition from starter to reliever is either delayed substantially or might not have even occurred at all)

Still if hindsight is 20-20 and Hochevar is not hurt at all and Royals still put Wade in pen regardless, boy what I would give to get us back to G4 WS with 4-1 lead T4, PH for Vargas and just let it ride with Luke and then onto HDH for 18 outs and get a stranglehold on that series and close them out in 6 at the K....

I know people still talk about sending Gordon home in the 9th inning of game 7 in 2014, but the thing I always bring up is wishing that Ned had only let Guthrie go the first 3 innings & then turned it over to HDH to pitch from there on out in game 7 of the 2014 WS.

The game would have been tied at 2 going into the 10th inning.
MadBum vs the Royals bullpen.

WTF would anyone vote for Ventura?

He played two seasons.

Yeah he died. And?

Game 2 of the 2014 ALDS, Games 2 & 6 of the 2014 WS, and Game 6 of the 2015 ALCS come to mind. Similar argument to Hoch really (postseason glory/success). Ventura was a big part of why we made it to the postseason in 2014 which is another argument in his favor.

Is Joe Delaney in the Chiefs Ring of Honor? Unsure if he is or not, but similar thought process there, I think.

Completely agreed. I’m also a bit partial to that game, as it was the 2015 postseason game I was able to attend. Prices crashed from $400+ to $100 the morning of the game and I cancelled a required university exam I needed to take and went with my friends spur of the moment. Will forever remember being in a stairwell with 20+ other royals fans by the HOF during the comeback and the mass group hugs that followed. Agreed about Hoch’s dominance in 2013, too. He seemed to be finally finding his role on the team.


I tell myself at the very least that Ned seemed to learn from not managing 2014 G4 like a Game 7. Flash forward to G4 in 2015 and Ned was much more aggressive to pull Young (who hadn’t run into the trouble Vargas had) to get to the Royals bullpen early. Despite the Royals being down, it always felt good to be in a bullpen battle with the 2015 Royals pen if you were only down by a run or two.

The last I heard Kyle Davies was working for his brothers construction company in Florida.

So perplexing why they put him on the list. It's almost like they don't like him and they are trolling him. He was one of the Royal's worst starting pitchers ever in the last 10 years.

Dayton Moore legitimately seemed to love him and it seemed to break his heart when he finally had to cut ties after a DUI(?)

Tell me the similarities of their deaths.

Wildly different circumstances. I just took your question to mean that we should stay focused on their efforts on the field and asked about Joe wondering if there was a soft precedent when a career is cut short due to tragic circumstances like that.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mondi makes his spring debut today vs. the Dodgers on ESPN.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RoyalsST?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RoyalsST</a> <a href="https://t.co/NXLe8G3zPP">pic.twitter.com/NXLe8G3zPP</a></p>&mdash; Kansas City Royals (@Royals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Royals/status/1367865943653715971?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 5, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Joe is, mostly due to the efforts of people here.

That’s awesome. This place has helped spur some pretty incredible changes at Arrowhead.

Nick Pratto seems to be having a good spring so far.