Dream a Little Dream

Maybe you have noticed this (though probably not, unless you’re in the greater Kansas City area) … but the Royals are going for it. I can’t exactly say what “it” they’re going for, or how successfully they’re going in “it’s” direction, or any of that. But we can deal with the wisdom or effectiveness of this later.

The point now is that the Kansas City Royals are trying to win.

And as Linda says in “Death of a Salesman:” “Attention must be paid.”

The Royals had the second-worst record in baseball in 2023, 56-106, tying the worst mark in franchise history. I was there for the 2005 version of 106 losses, and it has left me with enough stories for a lifetime. Seriously. Someday, I hope to have them rolling in the aisles at the retirement home as I tell tales of Ken Harvey getting whacked in the back with a cutoff throw and Chip Ambres and Terrence Long running to the dugout with the third-out fly ball still in the air and manager Tony Peña quitting in the middle of the season, at least in part because he was summoned to appear in a divorce case that, alas, was not his own, and getting stuck with the team on a ghastly 20-game losing streak because I had rashly promised to stay with the team until they won a game.

From what I could gather from a safe distance, the 2023 Royals were not nearly as bad, nor nearly as interesting as those Tony Peña-Bob Schaefer-Buddy Bell Royals. For one thing, they kept one manager all year long. And that manager was, hold on, oh yeah,