This was supposed to be the year for the Kansas City Royals, the year Royal’s fans found redemption for a playoff drought that has lasted nearly thirty years.

Dayton Moore’s “process” has been going on for eight years, and Royal’s fans have patiently waited for a cheap, horribly ran, and overall laughable franchise to make fans feel proud to be at the games and wearing their logo. As it stands now, the process hasn’t been a success, and the Royal’s playoff chances seem to be on life support. The plug may be pulled soon.

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This is going to be a brief history lesson on playoff teams and the wildcard spots. Most believe the magical number of wins needed to make the playoffs is ninety. In 2013, eleven teams had ninety or more wins, but there are only ten playoff spots. If you look at the last five years and pretend that the wildcard expansion took place during this time frame, only three teams would have made the playoffs while being under ninety wins. The Detroit Tigers in 2012 (the Tigers made the playoffs with eighty-eight wins in a weak Central Division), the 2011 Atlanta Braves with eighty-nine wins, and the 2010 Boston Red Sox with eighty-nine wins. The 2013 Texas Rangers are the only team in that span to produce more than ninety wins and fail to reach the playoffs. Reach ninety wins, and you have a 99 percent chance of making the playoffs. I like those odds.

The real question is, do the Royals have the ability to produce ninety wins? As of July 13, 2014, the Kansas City Royals have a record of 47-46. The Royals have been on a massive slide since their ten game win streak in early June, going 8-14. Today Chen goes up against Verlander, and saying that the Royals have struggled on offense is an understatement. This leads me to believe that today will bring another loss to the Detroit Tigers, leaving the Royals at .500 going into the All-Star break. What do the Royals have to do to revive their season?

After the All-Star break the Kansas City Royals will have 66 games remaining, in order to reach the magical ninety win total the Royals need to go 43-23, a win-loss percentage of .652. To put into perspective how difficult that is, the magical run the 2013 Kansas City Royals went on after the All-Star break only produced a win percentage of .614. Manger Ned Yost said “We know we’re a second half team”.  Last year’s record leads me to believe he may be right, but the numbers lead me to believe that it won’t matter.

The Kansas City Royals have a major uphill climb. Injuries are beginning to creep up, and if the team continues their lackluster performance on offense, ending the season at .500 will be like… “Winning the World Series”- Dayton Moore. Dayton Moore as continued to state that the team will not be making major roster moves as the trade deadline approaches, but if this club wants to have any chance at playoff success, a move or two will need to be made.

@kenny_8181

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By GASN Sports

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