Year end recap
The envelope please
Now that Christmas and the end of the year is upon us, it’s a good time to look back and evaluate the year. In terms of the big picture, it was great. When the season started, who among us really believed that the Royals would develop into a playoff team? Certainly not yours truly. The starting pitchers delivered big time. Vinnie and Salvy put together solid seasons and Bobby Jr. developed into a superstar. Matt Quatraro did a fine job leading the team and JJ Picollo and staff did an excellent job of assembling the parts. Mix it all together and despite a late season swoon, it was enough to propel the team into the playoffs. This group was the most unexpected Royal playoff team of my lifetime.
Now for the small picture. Back in March, all the Kevin’s of Royals Review dug deep into our respective brain power, which granted is limited, and made our predictions for the baseball season.
When it came to Royals wins, I predicted 72, which would have been a modest improvement over 2023. The Royals blew that out of the water with their 86-win season. I’ve never been happier to be wrong.
I did get a few things right. I predicted Bobby would be the position WAR leader. Not a tough choice, but you never know with injuries and regressions. Bobby delivered with one of the best seasons in Royals history, good for 9.40 WAR. Very impressive. Plus, he got married in the off-season. What a year for Bobby.
For the pitchers WAR leader, I selected Cole Ragans, a solid pick. Who saw Seth Lugo coming? Not me. Lugo put together a great season, finishing with 5.30 WAR, while Cole came in with a very respectable 4.90.
For the playoff teams, I pulled a complete whiff, picking Tampa to win the East, Minnesota in the Central and Texas winning the West. That was ugly, as New York, Cleveland and Houston took those crowns. For the Wildcard teams, I had Toronto, Houston and Baltimore.
Close, but no cigar as Detroit, Baltimore and KC won those spots. How about that late season run by Detroit to nab a wildcard? That even had me excited. That’s the beauty of baseball.
Compounding my errors, I had Houston winning the AL pennant.
Over in the National League, I fared a little better, selecting Atlanta in the East, St. Louis in the Central and LA in the West. For the wildcards, I had Arizona, San Diego and Philadelphia. I got three of the six playoff teams correct, just in the wrong order.
Philadelphia took the East; Milwaukee took the Central and LA prevailed in the West, with the Mets, Braves and Padres winning the wildcard slots.
My crystal ball was correct with my choice of LA as the National League champ and again very close as I picked LA over Houston in five games for the World Series title.
LA and five games were correct, except it was the Yankees that took the beating.
I pulled a Golden Sombrero on the post-season awards. I had Corey Seager winning the AL MVP (Aaron Judge) and Ronald Acuna winning the NL version (Shohei). I had Cole Ragans winning the AL Cy Young (Tarik Skubal) with Spencer Strider capturing the NL Cy (teammate Chris Sale). Like I said, who can predict the injuries (Acuna and Strider).
I’m usually pretty good on the rookies, but blew oil on last years picks with Evan Carter in the AL and Jung Ho Lee in the NL. Luis Gil and Paul Skenes took home those trophies, even though I thought San Diego’s Jackson Merrill should have won in the National. No disrespect to Skenes, who has a chance to be an all-timer. Merrill had a fantastic season in his own right, which most of the country missed since he played west coast late games most of the summer.
As the year winds to a close, I want to say thank you to all our loyal and dedicated readers in our tight-knit community. It’s an honor to write about this sport and team that we love. Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
RIP Rickey
You’ve heard by now that Rickey Henderson, one of the all-time greats, died on December 20th, just five days short of his Christmas birthday. And Rickey being born on Christmas is appropriate because he was a gift to baseball fans everywhere. The numbers he compiled speak for themselves: 25 (!) seasons, 3,055 hits, 297 home runs, 1,115 RBI, led the league in stolen bases an incredible 12 times. Finished his career with an OPS+ of 127, won an MVP, was a ten time All-Star and part of two World Series winners. Finished with 111 WAR and induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. His 2,295 runs and 1,406 stolen bases are the most in baseball history. He also holds the single season stolen base record (130 in 1982) and the record for the most lead off home runs. The stolen base number might never be broken. The current active leader is Sterling Marte with 344. Marte is 35, so Rickey is safe. Elly De La Cruz has 102 steals and is only 22. Should De La Cruz play for 20 more seasons, he’d have to average 70 stolen bases per year just to catch Rickey. I’m not a gambler, but I’d feel comfortable making a large wager that this is not going to happen.
Aside from the numbers, the thing that endeared Rickey to fans was his generosity and his ability to speak about himself in third person. He was as close to Yogi Berra as this generation of fans is going to see.
Some of my favorite stories about Rickey were whenever his team would vote on playoff shares for players who had only spent a few games with the team, Rickey would always shout, “Full Share”! This soon became one of his nicknames.
Another classic was one season the Athletics noticed their books were off by $1 million. The bean counters soon traced it back to a check written to Rickey. When asked if he was going to cash the check, Rickey admitted that he’d framed it and hung it on his wall.
When someone quoted John 3:16 to Rickey, Henderson replied, “I don’t want to hear about John hitting .316. Rickey’s hitting .330”.
As for the generosity, Rickey would often delay the team bus while signing for fans often to the chagrin of his teammates, who wanted to get back to the hotel.
During his second stint with Oakland, there was a young girl named Erin States, who claimed to be the #1 Rickey fan. Young Erin would sit in the left field corner and hold up signs for Rickey. The signs would say things like “Nice steal” or “great home run!”.
Erin was devastated when the A’s traded Rickey to Toronto in July of 1993. She wrote letters to several Bay area newspapers, one of which made it into the hands of Henderson. Rickey cried when he read the letter and said, “the fans and the press might be on me, but I knew I could always count on that little girl.” When the Jays played in Oakland later that summer, Rickey made a point of seeking out Erin and made a promise to her to hit a home run or steal a base should Toronto make it to the World Series.
Even though Rickey never played for the Royals, he did spend considerable time tormenting us. His death is a loss to the entire baseball community. Our deepest sympathies to the Henderson family. And thank you Rickey, for the memories.