Looking for an identity
For many readers, the opening of the baseball season has been the official start of spring. For me, it’s always been the Masters Golf Tournament. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because Georgia always seems to be sunny and warm, and I know that weather will eventually move north. Is there anything more beautiful than Augusta National? The color of the course, the bright greens and various colors of flowers, jumps off the screen like a Michael Jordan dunk. I still say the two most visually striking sporting moments are the very first time you walk through the tunnel and see a major league baseball field and the first time you see a golf course where a major is played. While waiting for the final round to start, I noticed a movie playing on another channel, entitled “Who is Amos Otis”? At first glance, I thought cool, someone had made a documentary about our Amos Otis. After all, the name Amos Otis is not a common one. A quick internet search revealed 30 people in the United States named Amos Otis, which was more than I expected.
Turns out this movie is about a fictional man, Amos Otis, who assassinates the president and then claims self-defense. I didn’t watch it but will admit to being a little steamed that they would use the name Amos Otis in this type of premise. Everyone in Royal Nation knows that our Amos Otis was a stand-up guy, one of the best. Plus, he’s not only the most famous Amos Otis, but likely the only one anyone knows of that name. To even slightly smear his name, even unintentionally, with this type of premise is in bad taste.
This year’s Masters was a classic. Rory McIlroy had a comfortable lead, blew it, regained it, blew it a second time, then won on the first playoff hole. One idea floated around the internet recently has been the idea of letting a regular Joe participate in some of these athletic competitions, just so us mortals can see the difference between us and the Rory McIlroy’s and Sidney McLaughlin-Levrone’s of the world. I must admit, I like the idea.
I’ve participated in enough sports over the years and watched countless hours of others and believe me when I say, I understand the difference. That’s why I’m always amazed to read and hear people say, primarily men, that they too would be capable of competing with the professionals. Uh, Jack, no you’re not.
Even though the Masters is in the books, there’s still a lot of competition for eyeballs this time of year. The Kentucky Derby, another great sporting spectacle, is rapidly approaching as is the Indy 500. Then you have the NBA playoffs, which might be your thing if you like watching very large men travel, carry the ball and flop like a soccer player who took a kick to the shins. Around the same time, you have the NHL playoffs. Short of the Super Bowl, the NHL playoffs are the most exciting playoffs of all the major sports. Hockey players are wired differently from athletes in other sports. After being around hockey for a few years, I’ve come to believe that hockey players are more motivated by winning the Stanley Cup than they are motivated by any other thing, such as money or fame. There’s something magical about winning the Stanley Cup that hasn’t been duplicated in any of the other major sports. Why else would a man voluntarily lay down in front of a 100-mph slap shot? I love that passion. And there’s no flopping in hockey.
Once the NHL wraps up their season, baseball will be the main focal point until football kicks off in the fall.
As of this writing, we are 17 games into the baseball season, basically 10% of the way through. It’s way too early to draw any long-term conclusions, but there are a few things that are starting to jump out. Fans of the Orioles and Astros must be disappointed in what they’ve seen from their teams. Angel fans on the other hand, must be ecstatic about how their team is playing. Over in the National League, Padre and Giants fans must be feeling pretty good, with the biggest shocker being how poorly Atlanta has been playing. Royal fans have been known to be a pessimistic lot, but how would you like to be an Atlanta fan right now? The Braves certainly have more talent than our Royals, and thus higher expectations. If I were an Atlanta fan, I’d start getting used to the idea that the Braves might not make the playoffs this season.
And what about the 2025 Royals? The starting pitching has been excellent, certainly the best part of this team. We expected that. The bullpen has had a few bright moments, but injuries and inconsistency have been flashing red lately. The team has called up Steven Cruz and Evan Sisk from Omaha and hopefully these two young men can shore things up. Earlier this month, I got a look at Jonathan Bowlan and Andrew Hoffman, two relief pitchers playing in Omaha, and was very impressed with both. If Omaha has four or five better pitchers than these two, then the Storm Chasers are loaded on the mound.
The defense has been okay, not great, but okay. The hitting has been atrocious. The team only has three players hitting over .300: Bobby, Maikel Garcia (who’s been a pleasant surprise) and Mark Canha, who is on the injured list. The power has disappeared, as the team only has 8 home runs. MJ Melendez and Hunter Renfroe are flailing their way into other careers. The baserunning has been comically horrific. This team runs into more unnecessary outs than any team I’ve ever seen, which is saying something as I’ve been watching games since 1969. If they don’t clean up the baserunning blunders, it won’t matter how good the pitching is, they’ll miss the playoffs. This team doesn’t score enough runs to squander outs.
And how are you feeling as a Royal fan at this juncture of the season? Frustrated? Pessimistic? Angry? Resigned? Ready to throw in the towel? Still optimistic, but cautious? As fans, we don’t know who these guys are. After making the playoffs last season, we had expectations and I think it’s fair to say, so far, we’ve been a little disappointed.
I’m not sure the Royals really know who they are yet either. I’m not certain this team has an identity. In that regard, they remind me of the 2013 team, which spent half of a season trying to figure out who they were. After the All-Star break, the 2013 team was fantastic, but that slow start doomed them, and they missed opening their playoff window.
You’ve probably seen the movie Dallas Buyers Club. In it, there is a terrific and heart wrenching scene played out by Jared Leto. Leto plays Rayon, a transgender woman afflicted with the Aids virus. Rayon is dying and goes to see her father one last time. The scene just destroys me every time I watch it with Rayon doing her best to maintain a stiff upper lip but her desire, her need to receive some parental love and support and acceptance is just crushing. Watching the scene, I often wonder, does Rayon know who he/she is? Sometimes I think yes, and other times I think no. Leto does a magnificent job of playing the role. Watching the film, you almost feel like a voyeur into a private conversation.
Which brings me to the 2025 Royals. Who are they? Who are these guys and what is their identity? Are they a shutdown defensive team? Are they going to ride outstanding starting pitching and hope the bullpen doesn’t spring any leaks? Can the offense find itself and score enough runs for any of it to matter? Is the front office hoping the team can make it through the first fifty games then call up Jac Caglianone with the hope that he can crush major league pitchers like he has been with AA pitching? That seems an unlikely, and risky, choice to me. Or are they banking that they can pick up an outfielder who can hit? Right now, I can’t sense an identity with this team. The 2014 and 2015 teams’ identity was to play great defense, keep the line moving offensively, turn the game over to HDH and minimize the number of managerial decisions Ned has to make. If this group can channel that formula, they’ll have a good season.
The baseball season is a long one, and it’s impossible to say what the standings will look like come late September. As we witnessed with the Detroit Tigers last summer, it’s possible for a team to go on a late season bender and make the playoffs. It’s not the optimal way to do things, but it can happen. By June 30th, the Royals will have 85 games under their belt, and we should have a pretty good idea of what their playoff chances look like. In the meantime, we can only hope that they coalesce into a working unit.
One last note on the Masters. Aren’t golf fans great? Sure, they have their favorite players, but when the players are walking to the tee, fans crowd both sides of the rope, clapping and shouting encouragement. The players do their part, often high-flying fans on their walk. Maybe we, as Royal fans, can take something from that. Like it or not, this is our team, and we need to get behind them and encourage them. These guys are out there busting their asses every day. We don’t always get the results we’d like, but these are our guys.