How June 1st Has Changed In April

When the season started many Royals fans circled June 1st. June 1st is date that almost without a doubt means Mike Moustakas will arrive in Kansas City to stay. Some think he will save the franchise. Some (me) think these kind of people are crazy. This team is awful! They get rid of all their greats like Zack Greinke. Wait, they haven’t lost any of their 4 series yet? Oh that’s right this team is better than expected, WAY better.

If you have followed me on twitter for any time or made the mistake of defending Greinke to me at the stadium, you know I have no love loss for him. I think the trade made has been fabulous and suddenly the need for Moose to save the franchise is so necessary. That trade has been a critical part of this team being above .500 and leading the wild card. As long as the Royals continue to not lose a series this team will be in the mix for the central and people in Kansas City are going to get excited. If the Royals can come out of their next 5 series without a lost series they will get into May with an above .500 record and only a month from the magical June 1st date. Notice I don’t say the Royals have won all their series because that wouldn’t be true. The Royals are 2-0 in three-game series but settled for splits in their two, two-game series this year.

This has been one of the best starts for the Royals in recent memory and some of us are believing this could be for real, maybe a little too much. Now June 1st has changed. June 1st is now more about a date for many to really start believing this team has a shot instead of just about top prospects joining the team. April has changed June 1st from a big day for a lost season to a day when this team could be making a legit run.

Now with that being said, even if we go 9 for 9 with no lost series’ by May 1st there will still be a month for the team to collapse before June 1st but I hate that kind of thinking. Yes, I get it, we have a habit of sucking but why think that way? Many people want to find the negative in the team regardless of how good things are. Yes I know we went 18-11 at a point and finished a season under 70 wins. Yes I know we have several 100 loss seasons since we last saw the playoffs. Yes I know we blew a 7 game lead and missed the playoffs. To all of you I say: SO WHAT! Why not enjoy the good times. I am so glad to ride this train right now and see what this team is doing. This Royals team is at least a year ahead of schedule. They play with heart and soul and are FUN to watch. We may win .500 we may not but It’ll be fun to watch. IF we finish April above .500, it’ll completely change the expectations of June 1st. It may still be circled, it may still mean the arrival of Mike Moustakas but it may also mean the day this team takes on a face of legitimacy. This team jumped to 14 in some power rankings this last week. 12 teams make the playoffs, to be considered 14 means this team is legitimately a fringe playoff team. We aren’t New York. We have different expectations. We had expectations for great prospects to filter in this year. With a solid April we can switch those expectations to maybe just maybe we’ll be good June 1st and instead of filtering into a bad team those prospects can be needed pieces to add to a playoff push when many thought we’d lose 100. This team has surprised, it can continue to surprise and April wins bring May hopes into June legitimacy. Come on April! Be good to us! No losses in 9 series to open the year. Do this Royals. Do it for all of us. All of the Royal Nation. Lets stop being a joke and bring in some legit baseball!

Troy can be found on Twitter as KCRoyalman. He also can be heard Sundays from 7-8p at royalmanreport.com and here on i70baseball.com with Bill Ivie, Mondays 10p-11p