Kansas City Royals Season Ends With Familiar Thud

WARNING:

This is being written from a very irrational and emotional place. Logic and reason could be things that are few and far between in what follows.

I have written before on this very site about my love for the Royals. It is a love I have had my entire life. I have no idea what it is like to root for any other baseball team. I would not even know how to start doing so. It is such a foreign concept to me. The West coast road trip resulted in the Royals going 1-6, and included an utterly embarrassing loss at the hands of the Angels only to be one-upped by an even more embarrassing sweep at the hands of the Seattle Mariners. Now what comes next could be lip service or it could finally be the time it takes. But the Royals have finally broken me. They really did. The Royals are Bane and I am The Batman. Unlike The Batman, victories have not killed my edge but rather the losses have broken me and my long-held belief in it ever getting better.

My fandom is not rational. Being a fan is the antitheses of rationality. Being a Royals fan is case and point to this. Over the years I have gotten close to another feeling but I never crossed that line. That line of completely cutting myself off as a fan of the team. I will always follow the Royals because I work at a Sports Radio station in Kansas City and following the local 9 comes with the territory. But my days of fandom are on life support. The plug is about to be pulled. All it took was really crappy late night baseball to coincide with Big 12 media days and the start of Chiefs training camp. It was the evil double rainbow if you will.

It happened Friday night, to be exact. That was the game that did it for me. The rest of the series vs. the Mariners was just icing on the craptastic Royals cake I have been eating for too long. After I finished watching Friday's game I talked to my wife about the Royals. Did I say talk? I mean she listened (sort of) as I used different curse words intertwined with different adjectives followed by other teams that have tasted success while the Royals continued to be the 500 yards that Andy Dufresne crawled through to escape Shawshank (that was poop). She warned me that I have said before that I am a life long fan and to remember that after yet another loss piled up this season. But a wise man once said there you should never choose a half measure. You should always go all the way. And that is what this latest display of pathetic baseball has done to me. I am now ready to take full measures.

But at least Ned Yost had a meeting with the team to tell them to quit being nice to the other players when they are on the base pads. So that should make everything better right? I believe the saying is winners win and losers meet.

There is no room for rational thinking here. That left the ballpark back in 2008 when the Tampa Bay Rays made the World Series which made it that all four of the most recent expansion teams have played in the World Series since the Royals last made the playoffs. The four teams (Rays, Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Rockies) have 5 World Series appearances between them and two World Series rings. Teams have had success, rebuilt, sucked, and are now good again since the Royals last playoffs appearance. This year's current examples include the Nationals, A's, Reds, Orioles, and Pirates. The freaking Pirates look like they are going to make the playoffs. THE PIRATES! That was the one thing Royals fans had. At least they weren't the Pirates. So much for that. And they have an ownership group that is actually willing to...what's the word I am looking for...oh yeah. Try and give a damn.

Being a fan takes an emotional toll thus emotional decisions and actions are taken. People say The light at the end of the tunnel is that things are going to turn the corner. I say that's a farce. That light you see at the end of the tunnel is actually the headlight of a train driven by the Glass family. The train is going to run you over, then stop to rummage through your pockets to ensure it did not miss a chance to get more money.

The ownership of the Royals are completely clueless on how to run a winning Major League Baseball team. They understand how to make money off it but actually understanding that they are dealing with people and players is lost on them. They fail to understand that Alex Gordon is having close to the same year as he did last season. The main difference is the lack of home runs. From what I hear the Glass family does not understand why the guy they gave $50 million to is not hitting more home runs. They fail to understand that there is not much reason why Alex Gordon has only 5 HRs other than he just doesn't hit them. They see only the money given to him and ignore everything else. I hate to just pin everything at the foot of horrendous ownership but that will always be where the blame lies with the Royals.

When you are in an irrational state things burn hot so hang on. I am sick and tired of hearing about 1985. I really am. I am tired of having this franchise trout out this one shining moment to the fans and make them believe it is okay to cling onto that one moment. I was 2 years old when the Royals won the 1985 World Series. I remember nothing about it. Many people my age are in a similar situation. With the advent of sites like www.baseball-reference.com it is very easy for younger fans to go back and find out everything they can about that series vs. the Cardinals. Who got what hit and who scored this run and who was on deck, etc. I have never done that. Living in the past accomplishes nothing. If you want to remember the past and relish the joy that was is one thing and I see why people do that. But too many Royals fans set up permanent residence there and I don't want to do that. I can't do that.

Finding a new team should be easy for me. In fact, it got a lot easier on Friday evening when one of my favorite players and former Royals pitcher Zack Greinke was traded to the Angels. I mean, why not just jump on the bandwagon? They have an ownership group that spends out the ass. Their GM has pulled off major in-season trades to make his team better. They have a phenom on their team. And I look really good in red. I am going to do it. I am going to make that transition. As I start my new life away from the Royals I will still hear them sing the familiar song of the handcuffs of the market size and the need to draw a certain attendance quota.

I saw the line clearly marked and I knew what I was doing when I crossed. I don't know if there is ever any coming back now. The better question is will I ever want to cross back over to the Royals side of the line.

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