All the times the Royals were in first place after the All-Star break

First place feels so good!

The Royals are in first place in late August, a position no one expected them to be in before the season. Even after a hot start, they were as much as ten games back on June 25. But since that day, the Royals have gone 32-20, the best record in the American League, and they have closed the gap to tie the Guardians for first place.

First place this late in the season is rarefied air for the Royals. Here are the other times they were in first place after the All-Star break.

July 31 - August 16, 1973

The young Royals were in just their fifth year, but found their first pennant race with the nucleus of a club that would enjoy a number of division titles, including a rookie named George Brett. The team got off to a 42-40 start, but caught fire in July, and by the end of the month they had caught the defending World Champion Oakland Athletics for first place. But the Royals dropped 8 of 11 late in the month, and the A’s proved why they were a dynasty, going 20-7 in August to win the division by six games over the Royals.

May 18 - End of the Season, 1976

By 1976, the Royals had amassed a speedy, talented team with terrific pitching while the A’s dynasty was starting to fade. The Royals took over first in mid-May and never looked back. Their lead swelled to ten games in early August, but the A’s made a late charge, pulling to within 2.5 games, but ran out of time as the Royals won their first division title.

August 20, 1977 - End of the Season, 1977

After getting their first taste of the post-season, the Royals had a bit of a hangover, stumbling with a poor May that left them in sixth place, 7.5 games back of Minnesota. But that summer, they got as hot as the Royals Stadium turf. They went 83-38 after May 27, a .686 winning percentage, seizing first place from the White Sox on August 20, and never looking back, eventually winning the division by eight games with a club-record 102 wins.

July 17 - August 23; August 27 - End of the Season, 1978

The Royals again had a poor start, and by July 3 were at .500. But nobody was running away with the division, and the Royals were one of four teams within 2.5 games of the first place Angels. The Royals went on an eight-game win streak that included sweeps of two of the best teams in the league - the Yankees and Red Sox (who would have a one-game playoff for the Eastern Division that fall) and took over first place on July 17, eventually building a five-game lead. The Angels caught them in August, but the Royals inched ahead at the end of the month. The Angels took three out of four from the Royals in Anaheim in September to pull within a half game, but the Royals took two out of three in Kansas City to pull away, eventually winning the division by five games.

August 30, 1979

The Royals were in fourth place at the All-Star break, under .500 and ten games back of the Angels. They went 19-11 in August while the Angels went 11-17, and the Royals began closing the gap. After a win over the Yankees on August 30, the Royals pulled ahead of the Angels by a half game. But the Angels won 8 of 9 to begin the month of September, pulling ahead and opening up a lead. The Royals traveled to Anaheim the last week of the season three games back, but dropped two of three to give the Angels the division title.

May 23 - End of the Season, 1980

The Royals didn’t have to sweat out a division race in 1980. They swept the Angels in Anaheim in late May, taking over first place, and never looked back. The Royals went 23-7 in August, opening up a 20 game lead at one point. The Royals clinched the division with about two and a half weeks to go (good thing too - they had an eight-game losing streak while waiting for the post-season).

Second Half of 1981

The 1981 season was a weird one. The Royals were lousy in the first half, but the players went on strike, interrupting the season. Baseball decided to split the season into two halves to generate interest, so the Royals got to press the reset button and hired a new manager - Dick Howser. The team went 30-23 in the second half to make the post-season, where they were quickly defeated by the first-half champion Oakland Athletics.

August 2-6; August 10-11; August 15; August 20-21; August 26-September 19, 1982

Now here’s a divisional battle! The Royals battled the Angels and White Sox for first all summer, but the White Sox fell off by August, leaving a two-team race. The Royals clung to a two game lead before going on a road trip in mid-September, but were swept by the lowly Twins to fall out of first place. They were swept in Anaheim, and managed to win just one in Oakland for an awful 1-8 road trip. They rallied with a five-game winning streak at home, but it was too late, and they fell two games shy of the Angels for the division.

September 5-10; September 12 - End of the Season, 1984

The Royals went young in 1984, but it looked like a rebuilding year when they were 40-50 in mid-July. But the Western Division was very mediocre that season, and when the Royals finally pulled to .500 at the end of August, they were only three games out of first place. They hosted the first place Twins at the beginning of September, trailing them by just one game. The Royals took two of three to take over first place, but the Twins took two of three the next week in Minnesota to temporarily reclaim the division. The two teams were tied going into the final week of the season, but the Twins lose their final six games in a row, giving the Royals an unexpected division title.

September 6-21; September 26-28; September 30, October 2-End of the Season, 1985

The Royals were just above .500 and 7.5 games out of first at the All-Star break, but they would come back in the regular season just like they would later that post-season. They won 19 of their first 27 after the break, and an eight-game winning streak in September put them in first place. They took two of three from second-place California to open up a lead, but a four-game home sweep to the hands of the Mariners put the race tied again. The Royals hosted the Angels in the final week of the season with a one-game lead and took three of four, eventually clinching the division that weekend with a walk-off win over the A’s.

July 1 - August 7; August 9-20; August 28-29, 2003

The 2003 Royals were coming off a 100-loss season, but won their first nine games and played surprising well most of the first half. They fell out of first place in mid-May, but a solid June and July put them back in first, and they had a seven-game lead at the All-Star break. But the pitching staff was running on fumes, and the Twins went 18-11 in August. The Royals took two out of three in Minnesota in late August and tied them as late as August 29. But the Royals lost 17 of their final 30 games, finishing seven games back of Minnesota

August 11-September 8; September 10-11, 2014

The Royals fired their hitting coach in May and were under .500 as late as July 22, hardly the start you would expect from a pennant-winner. But they won 24 out of 30 games to take first place from the Tigers in mid-August. The Royals dropped four of six against the Tigers head-to-head in September, but the Royals held on as the Wild Card, finishing just one game out of first place.

June 8 - End of the season, 2015

After coming so close to winning it all in 2014, the 2015 Royals had a huge chip on their shoulder that carried them most of the year. The were never more than one game out of first place the entire season, and in mid-June they took over first place for good. They won the division going away, despite a slump in September, finishing with the best record in the American League with 95 wins on their way to the second championship in club history.