Kansas City’s Revival Has Triggered a Boomlet of Merry Day-

[tater1977]

The Kansas City Royals Want to Rule the World

Kansas City’s Revival Has Triggered a Boomlet of Merry Day-Glo Memories for Fans of a Certain Age
Oct. 19, 2014
http://online.wsj.com/articles/the-kans ... 1413760648

The Kansas City Royals open the World Series at home on Tuesday. That sentence is as surreal to type as it is to read.

By now you surely know that, until this past month, Kansas City had been absent from baseball’s afterparty since 1985, a time when America was thunderstruck by the magic of microwave popcorn, watched broadcast TV at the appointed hour, and actually listened to their voice messages. During the ensuing 29 years, the country experienced five Presidents, 14 Raiders head coaches, six iPhones, an unclear number of Zunes, and zero world championships for the Knicks. The average baseball salary leapt from roughly $370,000 to just south of $4 million. Steven Seagal won a total of nine Oscars.

OK, Steven Seagal didn't win nine Oscars. But you get the point. It’s been a little while.

We are a nation prone to easy nostalgia, and this Royals revival has triggered a boomlet of merry Day-Glo memories for Fans of a Certain Age. Pop culture from the 80s has already been endlessly strip-mined—VH1 spun a whole network around it for a while—but the Trapper Keeper time capsule has been opened anew. Breakfast Club! Goonies! Cosby sweaters! Acid Wash! Wham!! This is a cheery baseball reboot for anyone who danced to Culture Club in a non-ironic way, or owned Tears for Fears on cassette.

But this is not the Leg Warmers World Series. The Royals feel irresistible, a delicious October surprise. They have not lost a single game in the 2014 postseason (the winning streak, now 11, actually stretches back to the final three games of their 1985 World Series champion team). This 2014 run began with a rise from a 7-3 deficit in the eighth inning of a wild-card playoff versus Oakland—you could hear the angry epitaphs being typed—to a stunning 9-8 win in 12 innings. They steamrolled through the Los Angeles Anaheim California Angels of Orange County and next, the Baltimore Orioles.

Kansas City is doing it with speed and defense. They are doing it with a brilliant bullpen that makes them comfortable sitting on the ledge. The Royals win but seldom make it easy—four of their eight straight victories have run into extra innings. They’re doing it with a manager, Ned Yost, who is second-guessed more than a man wearing purple shoes with khakis. How baseball fans have been waiting to shame Yost’s gut—a gut-shaming that has yet to happen.

“I don’t need vindication,” Yost said after the Royals beat Baltimore. “I’m the dumbest guy on the face of the earth…I know that’s not true.”

Like their manager, these Royals are comfortable with who they are. And—maybe more to the point—who they aren’t. Their payroll—a spartan eight figures!—sits the lower half of the league. Their average ticket price is less than half of the average ticket price at Yankee Stadium (and doesn’t come with somebody screaming “Der-ek Jeeee-ter!” in your ear.) The Royals aren't a typical suspect for the Big Crazy Trade or the Big Crazy Signing. They had a plan to develop slowly, and lately there had been flickers of hope, but there was no assurance it would pay off. As the 2014 season approached, they were viewed as something comparable to a new steakhouse at the airport. Maybe they’d blow your mind. Or…maybe not.

Give that airport steakhouse three Michelin stars! It’s late October, and the Royals are here, giving baseball a blast of fresh faces and vitality. The Royals haven't, as some feared, been a playoff ratings disaster—the nation, as it turns out, is helpless against the seductive power of YostMania. (And ascendant stars like ALCS MVP Lorenzo Cain.). There is Royal legend 61-year-old George Brett, who looks like he could go 5 for 5! There is the pop singer Lorde’s single “Royals,” reportedly inspired by George Brett! It’s as if forces of the universe have collided and conspired. Kauffman Stadium, once tranquil, suddenly looks like the bash of the moment.

This is a Series without an obvious villain. Yes, the San Francisco Giants won titles in 2010 and 2012, and they are back at Bud Selig ’s buffet line asking for more. But the Giants are hard to dislike, either. Madison Bumgarner, Travis Ishikawa, Pablo Sandoval, that comically gorgeous park by the Bay, Steve Perry in the flesh howling Journey classics—what’s not to love? (No Journey critics allowed please—Steve Perry is a national treasure.) Should San Francisco take a third title in five years, they will make an easy talk radio case as the team of the decade.

Let it be said for the zillionth time that baseball in 2014 is not football in 2014. It doesn't dominate the airwaves and culture in the way like it did when…like it did when the Royals were last in the World Series. Back then, we’d all huddle around the television set in our leg warmers eating magic microwave popcorn and admire the beauty of the national pastime. It’s different now. Tastes have changed, so have attitudes. You have a miracle of options to choose from. But the Royals are back in the World Series and it still sounds great, like Tears for Fears on cassette.

Write to Jason Gay at Jason.Gay@wsj.com

[Marabelle]

Oh boy, they're throwing down the gauntlet! Putting butter on the popcorn, squeezing lemon in the lemonade and putting the cherry on top of the sundae! This should be fun because there will be hero ; someone who will put the team on top of the scoreboard; someone who will get in the last homer; hit the last ball, and sang the last line of "Royals" or "Don't Stop Believing! Lordes will sing. Perry will sing. The crowds will go wild and one of the teams will be the World Series Champ! It will be great being able to read all the news articles, the interviews and see the games. I will be doing whatever it is I do which is waiting for Tater to post what's going on with the series and getting a chuckle at all that's going on in the stands with the fans and Mr. Perry!

[Scarab Pilot]

GO ROYALS!