KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — As the Yankees were celebrating their win over his Royals to clinch their AL Division Series on Thursday night at Kauffman Stadium, Bobby Witt Jr. snuck back to the home dugout to watch. He was the only one there, hanging over the railing, taking in the revelry that he thought should have belonged to him.
It left the Royals' budding superstar with a burning desire to not just return to the playoffs next year but go much farther.
“It's motivation. That's really all there is to it,” said Witt, whose exceptional year landed him in the All-Star Game and will likely land him second behind Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in MVP voting. “Because now that you get a taste of the postseason, you want to keep doing it. It's going to make everyone in this clubhouse work even harder.”
Unlike most offseasons — including the last one, when Kansas City had just finished a 106-loss campaign that ranked among the worst in franchise history — the Royals are headed into this one with momentum for the first time in years.
Behind a rebuilt starting rotation, improved bullpen and breakout performances by the likes of Witt and first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, the Royals contended for the AL Central until the final week of the season. Then, in the wild-card round, they won two straight in Baltimore to advance to the divisional round and meet the AL East champion Yankees.
They had New York on the ropes, too, splitting the first two games at Yankee Stadium. But the Royals were unable to take care of business at home, where they had been so good most of the year, losing a pair of nail-biters to end their season.
The three games they lost to the Yankees in their best-of-five series were decided by four runs total.
“I'm happy for the city. I'm happy for the organization that we did what we did this year,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said, "but it doesn't matter what other people thought we were able to accomplish this year. Our guys had bigger expectations for themselves, and that's how you should approach this game. You don't come here thinking, ‘Oh, I hope we get a little better.’ That is not how this works at the big-league level."
Yet the Royals got much better this season, engineering one of the biggest turnarounds in major league history.
When it ended with a 3-1 loss to the Yankees on Thursday night, it left Witt and the rest of the Royals wanting more, especially given how close they came to returning to the American League Championship Series.
“That's not even the goal. That's really who we are. That's what Royals baseball is,” Witt said. “We're going to keep getting better, each and every day. That's what we're going to work on in the offseason. This feels like a letdown, so there's a lot of bad tastes in peoples' mouths, so it's just going to be more motivation for a lot of time to come.”
All-Star picks Seth Lugo and Cole Ragans along with Brady Singer will be back to anchor the rotation next season. Michael Wacha could return, though he is likely to decline his player option. Kyle Wright could fill one of the open spots after he spent the season recovering from shoulder surgery, while Alec Marsh and others will compete for a starting role.
The Royals rebuilt their relief corps last offseason, and it was vastly improved despite dismal seasons from veterans such as Will Smith. They landed a bona fide closer in Lucas Erceg at the trade deadline, though, and also traded for Hunter Harvey, who threw for just 5 2/3 innings for them because of an injury but should be ready for a full 2025 season.
Hunter Renfroe holds a player option for next season and could be back, and Kyle Isbel played well in center field despite some modest numbers at the plate. But left fielder MJ Melendez was a black hole in the lineup and Nelson Velázquez hit so poorly that he was relegated to the minors. The Royals will be looking for more pop from the outfield in the offseason.
The Royals are content with their infield setup. Pasquantino will be back at first base after breaking his thumb late in the season, relegating him to DH duty. Michael Massey will be back at second base and Witt at shortstop, while third baseman Maikel Garcia will be looking for a bounce-back season at the plate. Freddy Fermin became a surprisingly effective backup to Salvador Perez at catcher, and that could mean the team captain gets more time at first base and DH to rest his body next season.
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