Royals Rumblings - News for October 4, 2024

Let’s enjoy this ride one more day before the ALDS starts

Make the playoffs and suddenly everyone wants to write about the Royals. Whereas normally, I’m looking for listicles and random tangential mentions of the team, I’m probably not going to be able to get to every single story posted yesterday. There’s just too many.

Since they’re always there all season long, we’re giving The Star the respect they’re due and give them their traditional leadoff spot:

As Max noted Michael Wacha will start game 1 of the ALDS. Here’s Jaylon Thompson’s story about it.

Wacha has pitched in eight major-league playoffs games in his career — mostly with the St. Louis Cardinals. He most recently appeared in the postseason with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2021, pitching against the Boston Red Sox.

“It’s been a little while since I’ve gotten a postseason start,” Wacha, 32, said. “You know, I’m definitely looking forward to the next one for sure, but I try not to put too much emphasis on it.

He also tells the story of Bobby Witt helping win the series:

“Yeah, that’s the fun part of this game,” Witt said after the eventual 2-1 Royals win, clinching a sweep in the Wild Card round. “This is why we do it, these situations here.”

...“His physical talent is off the charts, and the ability to beat that ball out — he smoked that ball,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “That was an incredible play at second base, as well, and to make it that close, you’ve got to be going hard. Guys hit a ball that hard, sometimes they don’t run it out full speed, but that shows the kind of person and player he is.”

Joseph Hernandez (don’t recognize the name - looks like The Star has “all hands on deck” for the playoffs) writes about what tickets cost:

Limited seats are available for Game 3 through the Royals’ team website, the one game that is guaranteed to be at Kauffman Stadium. The cheapest ticket remaining on the site costs $276 in the 200s seating level as of Thursday, Oct. 3.

Pete Grathoff recounts Royals/Yankees playoff history:

As ABC was preparing to air the 1980 American League Championship Series, the late director Chet Forte was asked by The Star if the network had special plans. “I don’t think you have to do much to jazz up a Kansas City-New York series,” Forte replied.

He was right. At that time, the Royals-Yankees rivalry was one of the biggest in baseball, largely because they were about to meet in the American League Championship Series for the fourth time in five years. Those games are remembered for clutch home runs, on-field fisticuffs and redemption for the Royals.

He collected hate Tweets from Baltimore fans, if you’re into that sort of thing.

He also wrote about Vinnie Pasquantino’s $200 order (not a misprint) of Taco Bell.

If you need a refresher on what Minda and Rany are talking about, it never hurts to repost Matt’s The definitive guide to Royals Review memes (from 2014).

Finally, Pete Grathoff claims this sweep “punctuates best 10 years in Kansas City sports history”.

When we moved to Kansas City in 2013, I had only a vague notion of the modern futility of the Royals and Chiefs.

While I knew the Royals hadn’t been in the World Series since 1985, I was stunned to realize they hadn’t even been in a postseason since. And though I understood the Chiefs hadn’t been to a Super Bowl since the 1969 season, I couldn’t believe they hadn’t so much as won a playoff game in two decades.

Those simple facts, though, didn’t remotely reveal the depths of pessimism in the fan bases. Around every corner lurked another trapdoor over quicksand with an anvil looming overhead. Here, hope sprang not eternal but infernal.

* * * * *

On to MLB.com and Anne Rogers. Like Thompson, she puts a bow on the recently completed series.

“Anything is possible,” closer Lucas Erceg said after securing two saves in his first career postseason series. “We’re just going to keep playing hard. Keep proving to people that we belong here, that we can compete at the highest level. We can’t wait...”

“Sign me up,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Nobody could think that’s going to happen. They trusted themselves and went right after those guys. … They challenged them, and that’s a credit to our pitching department and pounding that message into those guys day in and day out.”

She also talks to George Brett about his hatred of the Yankees:

“We really despised each other,” Brett said. “The teams did, the organizations did, and I think the cities did. We’d come to New York and they were just booing, loud and obnoxious and nasty. And then they would come to Kansas City, and I’m sure our fans did the same thing. But it was a rivalry where both teams really got up to play those games, and I think the fan base behind them got up to watch them play.”

Also at MLB.com, Brian Murphy (?) writes about the history of the rivalry, much like Grathoff did.

And Keegan Matheson, who cover the Blue Jays for MLB.com, does a positional breakdown of the two teams and predicts Yankees in five.

Melanie Martinez-Lopez wrote about Angel Zerpa’s improvement, highlighted by his clutch pitching in Game 2:

“So credit to [Zerpa], credit to the player development,” Quatraro said. “Dane Johnson is the pitching coach in Triple-A that just nailed it with helping him get that breaking ball back, and Dave Lundquist. It’s really remarkable what [Zerpa’s] doing. He loves to pitch. He’s one of those guys that competes like nobody’s business. It’s so much fun to be around him.”

* * * * *

Hey, The Athletic ($) has decided it’s time to cover the Royals again.

Rustin Dodd (what’s he up to these days?) calls the Royals “the unlikely savants of October”:

There are all kinds of October stories. There are the dynasties that show up year after year. There are the small-market spoilers who craft improbable tales. Yet nine years after winning their last World Series, the Royals are one of the strangest October specimens around. They don’t make the playoffs much — just four times since 1985. But when they do, they rarely lose. The last three times the Royals were in the postseason — 1985, 2014 and 2015 — they made the World Series. On Wednesday, they improved to 9-1 in their last 10 postseason rounds, the only loss coming in seven games to the Giants in the 2014 World Series.

Sam Blum writes about the risks of pitching to Bobby Baseball:

“They brought me in to face that guy,” said reliever Yennier Cano said after the 2-1, season-ending loss. “That was what we spoke about. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get the job done with the way the play turned out.”

The Athletic Staff goes back and forth with a capsule of the upcoming series.

* * * * *

Minor, expected roster move from Darragh McDonald at MLBTR: Dan Altavilla elected free agency.

A couple of AP stories. One shows that the Royals were the second least penalized team in the league with regards to the pitch clock.

Dave Skretta: “Overlooked AL Central gets its revenge by putting 3 teams in Division Series”:

“(The Twins) had the highest projected win total for the division, and they were in it all year, too,” Cleveland catcher Austin Hedges pointed out. “You had four teams flirting with the playoffs, and three in the (divisional round) shows it’s the best division in baseball right now.”

At USA Today, Gabe Lacques writes about the Royals:

“They’re some professional bottle poppers, now!” Pham said, as the party rolled on into the night and eventually back outside, turning the infield into an impromptu disco.

Awful Announcing covers the Royals social media trolling of the Orioles. On the one hand, it’s pretty funny. On the other hand, I have nothing against Baltimore and the O’s and I feel for them and wish they were on the other side of the bracket and still playing.

Finally, WPIX in New York: “Yankees playoff tickets cost more in Kansas City than the Bronx”

---

Blogs!

David Lesky ($) capped off the Orioles series:

Okay, who had the Royals bullpen being the main reason for a playoff win to clinch a series sweep back in June? Anyone raising their hand is a liar, and they are not to be trusted. And yet, that’s exactly what happened in another ridiculously tension-filled game between two teams that apparently are going to square off in the postseason every decade.

As did Craig Brown:

When the final chapter is written in this 2024 season, whenever that comes, the word resilient will be used again and again. It’s the perfect adjective for this team. They can take a punch. Then they can throw a devastating haymaker of their own. Although with the way this offense has been going of late, maybe it’s a light jab. It doesn’t matter, I suppose.

Kevin O’Brien is looking ahead to the ALDS:

That’s a primary reason I wrote about the Royals-Yankees rivalry not being as important to younger Royals fans, as they weren’t alive to witness those monumental postseason contests with so much on the line. The Yankees are unlikable but simply as unlikable as other widely hated clubs like the Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals, and Astros.

This time, in the ALDS, the Yankees and Royals are playing for something significant: A chance to make the ALCS and add another AL Pennant and World Series to their trophy case.

Blog Roundup:

• Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History—1984 Edition: October 3 - The Royals have plenty of chances but can’t take advantage as Detroit builds a commanding lead in the ALCS
• Rachel Millanta (looks like a new writer?) at Kings of Kauffman: Royals’ X-factor from Wild Card win vs Orioles was something fans least expected
• Jovan Alford (Chiefs Fansided writer?) at KC Kingdom: Patrick Mahomes Perfectly Reacts to Royals’ AL Wild Card Win
• Jackson Roberts at Kansas City Royals on SI: How Royals Made MLB History With Wild Card Series Defeat Of Orioles

---

Major news around the league the merits a section.

Last night’s Mets/Brewers game was a dandy. The Mets had the dramatic game 1 doubleheader win on Monday in Atlanta to qualify for the postseason. They flew to Milwaukee and won 8-4 on Monday. Tuesday, Jackson Chourio helped rally the Brewers with 3 in the 8th to win 5-3. Last night, the game was 0-0 through 6. Bottom 7, Jake Bauers hits a pinch hit home run to give the Brewers a 1-0 lead. Sal Frelick made it back-to-back with his first home run since May. The Brewers were looking to become the first team in the new Wild Card format to lose game 1 but win the series. However, in the top of the 9th, Pete Alonso had other ideas and the Mets continued their fairy tale season.

The Reds are hiring Terry Francona to be their new manager.

There have been rumors around this, but the Dodgers “don’t anticipate [Ohtani] pitching in the postseason.”

Speaking of Ohtani, in what is becoming a weekly occurrence, another fan files a lawsuit, claiming ownership of the 50/50 home run ball.

---

(Ed note: Yes, I said something else would be today’s topic, but I wasn’t really expecting a lot of conversation around playoff baseball back when I wrote this. Since the OT section got cut in half, it made sense to run this one this week)

Originally, this was going to be a two-parter with the story about the Locker Room shirts. But that one got a positive response in the RR Masthead Slack and was strangely on-topic, so it got made into its own story. That was going to be the natural (read: random) lead in to today’s topic about “the cutthroat world of t-shirt quilts”. Wait, what? We’ll get there in a minute, but let’s start at the top.

If you ask Google “how do I make a t-shirt quilt”. The answer is usually “look at YouTube” with the unspoken implication “...and spend years learning how to sew” or “ask your best friend who already knows how to sew”. Of course, if you want the real answer from the internet, you ask Reddit. It’s filled with horror stories of quilters who innocently tried to help and turned their lifelong friend into a mortal enemy. As an aside: it sounds like asking your shutterbug friend to be your wedding photographer ends similarly.

My wife was wanting me to thin out some of the t-shirts in my closet. After looking over a number of them, particularly the ones with the frayed collars, I begrudgingly agreed she might be right. Many I wouldn’t miss - they went straight to a group that collects fabric for recycling. However, I am nothing if not sentimental and many of the others have strong memories attached to them

I went to a local school, which shall remain nameless, and have accumulated a number of shirts commemorating various sporting milestones including conference titles, the Final Four (oops - that eliminates one of the local schools), and various bowl games - some of which I attended in person. And that’s what got me thinking about creating a t-shirt quilt. We have a spare bedroom in our house and was a good way to keep those memories alive while also getting something functional out of them (and out of the closet).

As I do not have some friend who sews that I secretly hate, I set about to see what companies could do this for me. Apparently, there are enough of us out there who have enough shirts to want to do this, be it from concerts, marathons, vacations, or whatever that there’s an entire industry around this. That’s where it got... interesting?

I’m definitely not a lawyer, but I feel like some disclaimers are in order. I eventually ordered a quilt from one of these companies and was pretty happy with it. I am definitely not an expert in quilts, sewing, or t-shirts. Then again, it seems like no one else these days is either. When I was in Kansas City for the 2014 ALDS, I had to settle for a 2XL because XLs were sold out. It’s roughly the size of a camping tent to this day. Meanwhile, I have some modern 2XLs that are smaller than Ls from 20 years ago that I gave up for a quilt. Also, older t-shirts are generally much heavier, even the older ones have been washed dozens of times and all are 100% cotton. It seems shrinkflation and enshittification comes for everything.

This post puts no money in my pocket and the only reason I’m writing it was because I like to come up with an OT section every week and I think someone might find these stories entertaining, just like my posts about Asian baseball, Legos, movies, or amusement park rides. This is clearly for entertainment purposes only. I’m going to not name names in the article but I will link to sources.

* * * * *

In the world of t-shirt quilts, I get the impression that Company A is the market leader. They talk up how they are bringing clothing manufacturing back to the USA, paying fair wages, and focus on recycling while their ads also highlight how they employ veterans. That’s a feel good story, to be sure.

Apparently, business was good, to the tune of millions of dollars a year. They hired Company B to make some promotional videos, including videos showing how they made the quilts. Company A stopped using Company B to do their media and, allegedly, members from Company B founded quilt Company C. Company A then sued Company B for stealing trade secrets:

The suit accuses [Company B] executives of attempting to “mask their involvement in [Company C] by creating shell companies and using pseudonyms in [Company C]’s online communications, including … ‘Joe McMillan,’ an unethical character on the AMC television series ‘Halt and Catch Fire,’ who steals intellectual property to unfairly compete with his former friend,” [Company A]’s court complaint states.

They’re not the only ones that Company A has a beef with. In a blog post, they talk about Company D, another competitor and the “shocking truth” behind them:

If you Google search the question “where is [Company D] located”, the first result you will see is “Lincoln, NE.” This may not seem like a big deal at first glance. But where in Nebraska is [Company D] making t-shirt quilts, exactly? ...A search of the exact address provided by [Company D] will reveal where they are producing these quilts: a correctional facility. Yes, [Company D]’s quilts are made inside a prison in Nebraska through a contract with Cornhusker Industries, a state agency.

How about Company E? They seem like a decent sized competitor to Company A. Want to know how I guessed that? Because Company F made a 9-minute video and blog post longer than your average Friday Rumblings telling us just how great they are and how bad Company A and Company E are. It’s a cutthroat world out there!

In the end, I’m really happy with the one I bought. It didn’t break the bank but it looks great and feels nice. I haven’t washed it yet and I’ve only had it a few months. But I really do like it as a way to re-use those memorable shirts that need to retire.

---

Hey, do you guys remember Donkey Konga? Probably not. If you want the refresher, here’s when we covered it back in 2020. We also revisited it in 2021.

Today, how about “Dancing in the Street”, the Martha and the Vandellas version (in Donkey Konga)?