Quote:
Originally Posted by Why Not?
Nothing wrong with being realistic on both sides. The Royals so far are a much improved team who play an exciting brand of baseball. They have some excellent numbers thus far. One number that can't be ignored is that they are 3-7 vs the top 2 teams in the AL. So, are they a contender? Depends what you mean. For the playoffs? As of June 13th, absolutely. To win a pennant or beyond? Only in the sense that they Pittsburgh Steelers were a contender for the Super Bowl last year in that you have a greater than 0% chance if you make the tournament. But this current team as it's constructed doesn't have the horses to regularly beat the top teams (as evidenced by the 3-7 record). Great pitching (like the kind you face in the playoffs) can keep the Royals top guys at bay and destroy the MJ Melendez types. Great hitters (like the kind you face in the playoffs) will feast on the Nick Andersons types. Will the Royals make moves to improve those areas? We shall see. But it is becoming more and more clear that we will have an enjoyable summer of baseball and should finish over .500 That's good enough for me (and most reasonable fans) for a team that won 56 games last year.
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The Royals didn't win their 40th game until August 18th last year.
This is just a smidge better this year.