Fans May Register for Chance to Secure Tickets for Twins-Royals Home Opener

KANSAS CITY, MO (January 8, 2013) –  The Kansas City Royals will hold an online Opening Day ticket opportunity program to give fans the chance to secure tickets for the club’s home opener presented by Sprint.  The 2013 Royals home opener is set for Monday, April 8 against the Minnesota Twins.  First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 p.m.

To be eligible for the Opening Day ticket opportunity, fans must register online at www.royals.com/openingday.  Online registration is currently open and will close on Wednesday, February 6 at 5 p.m. CST.  A random drawing for the opportunity to purchase up to two tickets to Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium will be held later that week, and winners will be notified by Monday, February 11 via the email address submitted on the registration form.  Those applicants whose names are selected will then have an opportunity to purchase tickets to Opening Day at a date and time to be indicated in the winning email.  As an added benefit, all fans that register for the Opening Day ticket opportunity will have the chance to purchase tickets to any other 2013 Royals home games prior to the general public through a special presale, which will take place on Thursday, February 14 on royals.com.

Fans can also guarantee themselves tickets to Opening Day by purchasing a full-season, half-season or 21-game season ticket plan.  The 15 Game Pick ‘em Pack, which starts at just $150 for a minimum of 15 games, also includes an Opening Day seat.  All plans are currently available online at royals.com.  Fans may also contact the Royals Sales Department by calling (816) 504-4040, option 2, or emailing seasonsales@royals.com.

As the sun rose this morning, hundreds of people were already hard at work. They were checking the details. Like a parent on Christmas morning, they are making sure everything is in place.

Making sure the souviener stands are stocked and ready. Making sure the promotional material is ready at the gates. Seats are clean, aisles are swept, food stands are stocked. Meetings were held to ensure that everyone knew the game plan. All while you were still in bed.

As the sun rises this morning, grounds crews will ensure everything is perfect. The logos painted in the field are meticulously manicured. The grass is perfect. The field is dragged, kicking the sweet smell of the fine dust up and around the field.

The dew on the grass gives way to warmer temperatures. Downtown in your city, rallies are held for teams. People are screaming. Absenteeism at work and school will be at all time highs. Little kids, grown adults, elderly, and teenagers will converge on stadiums wearing team colors and optimism.

As the noon hour quickly approaches, all 30 teams sit in a tie for first place. Every fan has hope and optimistic views. This afternoon, everyone has as much of a chance as any other team. Your favorite player is as much the league MVP as mine or anyone else.

By the time you go to bed, the landscape is being laid. Debates will be held as to why the team won or lost. The division of baseball will begin. Optimism will reach higher, crash to the ground, or be adjusted. The local sports talk stations will break down every detail, every player change, every sacrifice and every error. Sports television will show highlights, low lights, errors, and amazing plays.

If you are reading this, you will love every last minute of it.

Happy Opening Day. It is the greatest day of the year for people like me. The love of my life returns. For the next six to seven months my life will revolve around the game. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

A year can make all the difference. Ned Yost in January was starting his new job as a special adviser to the Kansas City Royals. The month of May came along with a chance to take over for recently fired manager Trey Hillman. The Yost led Royals are 31-37 heading into August with a new lineup after several deadline deals.

The one thing that will not be changing in Kansas City is the manager. Yost has been given a two year extension that will keep him as the captain of this ship through the 2012 season. Yost, it seems, has started to turn this team around during his short run as manager and this small turn around is apparently hope enough for Royals management to bet on Yost for the years to come.

Extending Yost at this point in the season is a good choice, in my opinion. By letting Yost stay, the team is basically giving him the rest of the year to use as an extended training/evaluation period. He will be able to bring up AAA guys and maybe even a AA guy or two in the last month of the season. Yost will be able to see his minor league talent at the major league level and he will also be able to give some bench players more playing time after trading four starting players.

Yost has proven that he can turn a bad team with young talent into a good team previously with the Brewers. This kind of experience is what the Royals need to turn prospects into wins. Yost has been there and done that. He has a game plan that has worked in the past with a minor league system that most will agree was not as talented as the current Royals system.

The most important thing is that Yost likes the process of building a team. This is the most important quality for a manager of a young team because mangers that want to win now want to bring in older talent to make a run this year or trade away all their AAA talent in one deal (see Cardinals). A manager that likes to build a team knows that you have to let the younger players work into being great players. This kind of manager has to be willing to say no to a trade of five top level prospects for one superstar especially with the budget in Kansas City.

A team building manager also has to know that he has time to let his plan come together and that is what the Royals have done by extending Yost. The only problem with this move is that Yost only has two years. I would have liked to see a three or four year deal given to any manager.