Quote:
Originally Posted by Mecca
So is your argument that once the rest of the league caught on the Royals were incapable of pivoting? They were a 1 trick pony that couldn't adjust to stay relevant?
|
It became harder, yes. Same way that Dayton changed the game by paying overslot in the draft until they shut that down and we never really recovered.
I think these teams like the Astros and Rays took what the Royals did and weaponized it using advanced analytics and performance metrics, etc.
It was absolutely a Moneyball style thing of zigging when everyone else was zagging and it worked. I mentioned even at the time I think that people were sleeping on how well that team made contact. They might have been the best contact hitting team of all time relative to the rest of the league.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-roya...act-team-ever/
Go look at what the Astros have done since we beat them in 2015 in terms of making contact. They became elite at it almost every single year. They focus on power way more than the Royals did, but they also have a better park for it. The Rays started implementing defensive shifts, openers, playing pitching matchups and taking what the Royals bullpen did to the next step, using relievers to match up and shut down the other team.