That is one team passed and only three to go. And we are only two behind the top two on the loss column.

Cough Prison Bitch Cough

****in win!!

Texas takes a 3-1 lead.

So....this is pretty cool.

The face... meh.

Nice set though.

I was wondering what all the cheering was for.

Ah, the good old Lou Brown...

"I figure it's going to take 32 more victories to win this thing. Every time we win, we peel a section...."

Royals and Pirates both 12/15 in their leagues in attendance at ~1.2m. So much for the theory that winning draws fans, it really doesn't. Small markets can't support baseball very easily. Tampa can't draw either. Cleveland can't draw, Oakland can't draw. (Cleveland is dead last in attendance in the AL)


MLB is a sport for super large markets that can throw millions of warm bodies into the stands over a long drawn out 6-month season. STL is probably the lone exception to the rule.

Tampa can't draw because everybody down there is from the northeast originally. Oakland can't draw because its a dying city.

I have no idea about the other cities? KC used to draw solidly when they were good. I wonder if having them on TV most nights hurts their attendance? It didn't used to be that way back in the day.

This is fantastic. I've never been so excited about the Royals.

In fairness, the Royals have been out of it until this recent winning streak. Let's see if attendance gets a bump now that we're back home and the games suddenly matter.

Yeah, the Royals don't prove shit in terms of attendance, yet. They were dead in the water at the break. And now this.

If this run continues and no one goes out, then we'll have to accept the fact.

Not to mention the Royals are 3rd from the bottom in home games so far only the Cardinals and White Sox have played less. The Royals should see a big jump this week with the Red Sox coming in this weekend.

God.

ESPN is so unwatchable.

MOAR AROD HIGHLIGHTS PLZ!

Just about to post the same thing. I made the mistake of watching baseball tonight thinking there might be some Royals talk. 7/8's A-Rod talk. **** you ESPN

Not me, I want Cleveland to win out and bring Detroit back into the fold. We play both Cleveland and Detroit enough to take care of them once we are caught up. We can take this division, Cleveland plays more road games than we do, Detroit is on even playing field with us home and away.

Go Cleveland, they will fail down the stretch,let's shoot for Detroit, just keep winning!

It's really odd how the media works sometimes.

Giving the antagonist all of the limelight.

Well Moose was hitting under .200 for most of the season, and only until June 22nd did he raise his average over .200. It's not like people were blindly begging for him to be sent down. He was awful for months, but now obviously he is playing better down the stretch.

And realistically there was no way Hos and Moose were going to be sent down, as their are no other options for those positions. People were frustrated with their lack of production(Mostly Moose).

I watch MLB Network more often anymore. I think they're the best of all the "league" networks. They did talk about the Royals for a bit tonight. Both analysts agreed the Royals are a serious player in the wild card race. Mike Lowell said at this point they're basically one good week away from a wild card spot. They just need to keep winning series.

Once frenchy was released some of our hitters have come on. Get rid of the free swinger, and less free swinging happens.

This beauty was posted yesterday. Consider the source, I guess...

Well now that all the games for today are in the books, here are the overnight standings.

Division:
http://i.imgur.com/TiUBxTS.png


Wildcard:
http://i.imgur.com/wpHKs9j.png

What would he have learned in AAA that he couldn't in KC?

And to really drive attendance, the game needs to become "the place to be" in town. They have to draw the casual fans, along with the usual supporters. That's going to take more than a great 13 game run.

This run is so exciting! I hope we can clinch the series tomorrow with Big Game on the mound. A little worried about Deduno, but one at a time.

I'll say this: if Hosmer and Moose continue to rake, the Royals will be pretty good offensively and then George Brett should be the MVP of this team.

Moose has been opsing over .800 for two months. Some folks around here need to get a grip.

A planeteer early in the season said winning this year will depend heavily on the bats of Moose and Hosmer. I guess that's more apparent now than ever.

Also, whatever we overpaid for Shields/Wade has to be made up for in the Sanchez/Guthrie trade IMHO.

Maybe I'm just trying to rationalize away the trade, but I'm of the belief that Shields is worth more than his stats. He brought a mindset that seems to have carried over to the rest of the team, especially the staff. They just go out there and grind and grind and grind. When the pups get called up, having them learn from James will make them better pitchers. If nothing else, nobody wants to play this team. There's no quit in them.

We aren't drawing well because the season ticket base has been decimated from decades of terrible baseball. We had nearly 7,000 walk ups for the game last night. On a Monday night. Against a horrible team.

That's not too bad, all things considered.

Unless the Royals lose 3 straight, The K will be packed to the lights this weekend.

Look like rain is in the forecast for Wednesday night. Yippeee

Friday will be a good indicator of where Royals excitement really is.

How does one act in August when baseball matters? Remind me please!

I think a boner is mandatory.

I'm so confused...

Would be nice to average 28K for the weekend series with the BoSox - may not happen because it's a 4-game series, but it should be close. Thursday's and Sunday's games will most likely be the smallest crowds (22K), and the remaining 2 dates should average about 33K. That would probably be the biggest 4 game draw in quite some time.

Keep winning, Boys. That's all that matters.

If we get anywhere near the playoffs, the number of season ticket holders should go through the roof, no?

We should have great crowds this weekend given the opponent and nice weather and no school yet and winning team. But the attendance this year has been exactly the same as it always has been and this year, we actually got off to a great month of April.


Point: people who say Glass will 'open up his checkbook' if he sees more fans is not remotely true. The payrolls are now divorced from attendance anyway (it's only 1/4 gate receipts now and the rest TV etc). An extra 1M fans which would double our attendance would bring in what 15m? Enough to buy another year of Ervin Santana?

Dayton should panhandle in front of the K this weekend so he afford to sign Santana next year.

(I damn near typed Sanchez)

I plan on getting some. :)

Another million fans would bring in probably $3,000,000 just in parking, $20,000,000 in tickets, $20,000,000 in concessions, and $10,000,000 in sundry merchandise, little K revenue, etc. $50 per head should be realistic...and fans spend more on a team that wins. Then, you get sponsorships and the whole bit.

Depends. Season tickets sell when the prospects of the Team look good for the upcoming year. If the Royals make the Playoffs this year, keep the nucleus together, and have a good off-season with Player additions, then yes, Season Tickets could increase by 20+%

That would be amazing. This team has a LOT of starting pitching options for next year...with varying degrees of potential.

If we sign Santana, we would have Shields, Santana, Guthrie, Chen, Davis, Mendoza, Paulino, Duffy, Zimmer, Smith, Hochevar (yes...Hochevar), and possibly Ventura.

The top three would be set, so you would have as many as nine potential candidates for the last two spots...and I'm probably missing someone.

Who do we stand to lose besides Santana? I'm of the opinion that Tejada can at least platoon again next year, but that may be wishful thinking on my part. Beyond that, our lineup is pretty well all set to return, aren't they?

After dumping Frenchy and Hoch's salary there should be some money to spend. Santana is making pretty good money this year too

I want the Duff-man in the rotation next year under any scenario, don't care who he bumps.


Chen will likely get a pretty good offer elsewhere the way he's pitched. Probably will be too pricey. I'd take him + Hoch + Frenchy and use that 14M elsewhere for sure.

I think so. Just making the point that this is what generally keeps fans interested and motivated to buy season tickets for the upcoming season.

1. Team Makes Playoffs

2. Keep Nucleus of Current Team

3. Make some key acquisitions in the off-season

4. Season Ticket Sales Increase

5. Profit

I don't think we necessarily have to make the playoffs to see a big increase in ST sales.

As long as we stay competitive and finish around 10 or so games over .500 (86+ wins), we will see the jump.

Spitballing about Wednesday...

If Davis can't pitch, which I'm assuming he won't (rightfully so, given the circumstances), does Duffy get the call up? Dutton mentioned in a tweet that it would possibly go to Duff, so that got me a little bit excited inside my pants

That's possible. The one thing I would add is that we, as a fan base, are a very delicate and jaded bunch. We've been abused for nearly 30 years with little to no hint of the playoffs. The older fans, myself included, might be the most jaded of the bunch - we've seen the Royals win, and we know what it's like and what it can be like in this town when the Royals are good. Thing is, emotionally, we teeter a lot. We've seen winning streaks followed by massive losing streaks. We've seen the Royals take themselves out of contention early in the year, only to play great baseball in the final month of the season when it doesn't matter.

If the Royals lose 5-7 games in a row, and take themselves out of the race, I don't see the fans lining up to buy season tickets. They could still win 82-86 games, after losing 5-7 straight, and the fans will lose interest because the Playoffs are no longer a possibility. My point: I don't think flirting is going to get it done unless they stay in this thing until the final week of the season. GMDM did a lot of mortgaging to get to the Playoffs this season. He's not the only one that knows that.

In the mean time, I will be going to at least 2 games this weekend. Can't wait!

The offseason and approach heading into 2014 will be very interesting.

I could see them making a push to re-sign Santana, but I just can't shake the feeling that some team is going to offer him 5 years, $80 million. An offer KC could match - if Glass were willing - but extremely risky for a team that likely will run $80-100 million payrolls under the new revenue sharing plan.

If they can't re-sign Santana, I'd like to see KC pick up another veteran in FA, someone who can help Guthrie and Shields stabilize the rotation and eat innings. There will be several guys that fit that bill in the FA market.

The last two spots, in my opinion, end up as a competition between Wade Davis, Danny Duffy, Kyle Zimmer, Will Smith and Yordano Ventura. I could SEE Mendoza and Paulino (if they are able to bring him back) being part of the conversation, too.

They'll let Chen walk and I imagine either trade or non-tender Hochevar (you can't pay a non-closer relief pitcher $6 million+).

Trading Hochevar in the offseason should bring a strong return. His numbers ARE eye-popping (even if they're low-leverage).

As for payroll for next year, here's what comes off the books:

Francoeur: $7.5 million
Bruce Chen: $4.5 million
Hochevar: $4.56 million
Santana: $12 million
Getz: $1.05 million
Tejada: $1.1 million

It adds up to about $30 million that will come off the books. However, a lot of salaries will escalate:

Guthrie: +$6 million
Gordon: +$1 million
Perez: $ 0.5 million
Holland: ARB
Hosmer: ARB
Moustakas: ARB
Crow: ARB
Collins: ARB

I'd imagine the net payroll gain is somewhere around $10 million when all is said and done.

Which is enough to buy a FA pitcher flyer (just a solid innings eater, nothing special) and a decent 2B (not a star, but someone who can more capably fill that role than Chris fecking Getz).

Now, of course, the MLB TV deal should add a considerable amount of cash to the pool. As should increased attendance and revenue this year and anticipated increased attendance and revenue next year.

But, doesn't Kansas City have a history of drawing large crowds? I wasn't there (too young), but I understand that the Royals were heavily supported during the Ewing Kauffman days. Isn't that potential still there?

The Chiefs are heavily supported when winning. Sporting Kansas City is being supported heavily (they are winning). Shouldn't Royals see an increase, as well?

Before you say, "baseball is an anomaly" or something like that.. just know that I would counter that with "kansas city is an anomaly". KC supports the hell out of their teams when the team looks like they give a shit.

The problem Duncan is that we ahve an atrocious local cable deal. 20M. Rangers and Tigers have something like 80M deals. We're screwed until 2020.

Davis' brother's funeral is scheduled for this week. Wade is out. Duffy is scheduled to pitch in Omaha on Wednesday. Could be a good match. If not, I fully expect to see Will Smith get the call.

The crowds will be there this weekend. I think they had 21k+ last night. I expect there will be closer to 25k tonight with Shields on the mound and considering last night's ass beating

I'm just thinking it's "win now" and who better for Duffy to face than the shit lineup Minnesota is throwing out?

The problem Duncan is that we ahve an atrocious local cable deal. 20M. Rangers and Tigers have something like 80M deals. We're screwed until 2020.

Every team will see an increase in TV money over the offseason. Something like $20-22 million per team. That's from the shared TV deal and independent of the local revenue, at least as I understand it.

Basically, $600 million more in the pot for player salaries starting this offseason. Could create a REALLY charged environment if more teams take after the Dodgers.

Local TV deal sucks and limits KC quite a bit, but improved stadium revenues and better national TV money should allow KC to increase payroll.

Whether Glass actually does it? Who knows.

The Royals are selling Field Plaza tickets to tonights game for $19, which is cheaper than anyone is currently selling them on Stubhub. It's actually a good deal.

Any chance the Royals can renegotiate the TV deal? With the ratings they've seen the $20mil per season over the next 7 years is an atrocious deal.

Has to be Alex given the POY designation. Although I guess Young did too.

No, it's locked in until EOY 2019.

Did Billy drink all his BBQ sauce? I haven't seen a bottle in the dugout lately.

Has anyone ever sat in the crown club? I am really tempted to sit there but it is $245 each.

Send him down?

Not to be too critical, but its good thing the Royals are winning because nobody is talking about A. Gordons prolonged slump. Hitting around. .200 since June. His doubles are waaay down compared to last 2 seasons.
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I thought they were $150 each.

I could eat and drink $150 worth of food and drinks (especially considering the $10 pricetag), but not sure I could down $250 worth.

Cut him.

Saw the average way down last night. I think he'll pull out of it.

It seemed to coincide with George coming on board. I've heard he probably pressed a bit and it messed with his head having George in there after all the pressure Alex had coming up when he was billed as the "Next George Brett".

The full story of the Fountain Lady

http://deadspin.com/royals-fountain-...ium=socialflow

It's freaking amazing.

I've got a friend who has 4 seats in there. He asked me to swing through tomorrow night. Will get some Diamond Club action going. Hopefully that brings Duffy some good luck on his MLB return.

You are probably thinking of the Diamond Club, which is the section just behind those seats. The Crown Club is those ones that are constantly on TV during the game right behind home plate.

What are the amenities in the Crown Club?

25, huh? Based on the pics last night I guessed 35-45.

Other than good seats, Kia Diamond club doesn't really get you anything, correct? I was on the Royals site and they have them for $92/each for tonight's game. But I don't think those are all-you-can-eat/drink

I've sat down there a few times. You can see the movement on each pitch; it is cool to be able to tell live at a game if the pitcher is throwing a 2 seam or 4 seam fastball.

Gordon hit the ball pretty well in New York ---- couple of balls caught on the track. Last night he hit a rocket right at the 2nd baseman in his last AB. He's obviously struggling, but he's making solid contact enough that I think his numbers will jump back up soon enough. Hopefully Gordon, Salvy, and Butler can get hot when (if?) Hos and Moose cool off a bit.