Watch Live: Royals and Tigers meet in Free Game of the Day
The Kansas City Royals were riding high earlier this week when Eric Hosmer and Salvador Perez each homered in the American League’s 4-2 win in the All-Star game. Hosmer even earned MVP honors as home-field advantage was locked up for the AL. That would bode well for Kansas City should it reach a third straight World Series and have a chance to defend its 2015 championship.
Here’s the issue though: Defending championships has become increasingly difficult in today’s competitive sports landscape. We saw that in this year’s NBA Finals. We’ve seen it in the NFL. And we’ve seen it in Major League Baseball, where no team has repeated since the New York Yankees won three straight championships from 1998-2000.
The odds now are against teams sustaining that level of success and excellence, which means teams like the Royals are already fighting an uphill battle.
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Kansas City is struggling to fight that battle in 2016, and it goes beyond teams simply figuring our their style and adjusting. The Royals lost key players like Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist in free agency. They’ve lost other key players to injury, like Mike Moustakas, whose season is over, and Alex Gordon, who missed a month.
Through it all though, Kansas City remains a threat in the standings. At 46-44, they’re seven games back in the AL Central but only 3 1/2 behind in the wild-card race. Now they’ll look to improve their position in Sunday’s Free Game of the Day, as they take on the division rival Detroit Tigers. You can stream the game at Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index and video home beginning at 1:10 p.m. ET.
Three big reasons Kansas City hasn’t been completely buried at this point is the strong production of three relative unknowns.
Rookie Cheslor Cuthbert has manned the hot corner admirably in Moustakas’ absence hitting .282 with eight homers and 28 RBIs. He’s also played strong defense, which means he’s a guy Ned Yost will have a difficult time keeping off the field down the stretch. It doesn’t hurt that he has a pretty cool name too, but the coolest Royals name goes to the next guy.
Whit Merrifield, another rookie, is now the Royals second baseman after taking the job from veteran Omar Infante. In fact, Infante was released June 21, which completely opened his path. Merrifield is hitting .290 with two homers, 16 RBIs and five steals, and he’s also played solid defense.
Second-year outfielder Paulo Orlando is another guy who’s stepped up in a big way. Following their series of offseason departures, Kansas City figured Jarrod Dyson would plug in as the everyday right fielder. Instead, its Orlando and his .317 average that has earned Yost’s trust.
Whether these players have staying power it yet to be determined, but we at least know they aren’t overwhelmed by the challenge. If the Royals prove resilient again, these are the names you’ll be hearing about.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
