No, it's not the 1980s. George Brett isn't playing third base and nearly hitting .400 for the season. Dan Quisenberry isn't saving games with his submarine delivery. Willie Wilson isn't stealing bases and flying around the outfield. Don Denkinger is nowhere to be seen. But somehow, someway, the Kansas City Royals have made it back to the World Series for the first time in 29 years.
What's going on? How did a team with a low payroll, a team that's been synonymous with failure for nearly thirty years, a team that was barely playing .500 baseball at the All Star Break, reach baseball's pinnacle? A combination of factors.
The first is that it seems we are now truly in the post-steroid era. Offensive numbers have been down across the board in baseball, which means that good pitching (especially relief pitching), great defense, great execution and timely hitting can take a team far in a limited number of games. And it means that a team that hit the fewest home runs in baseball can beat a team that hit the most home runs if they do everything else right. So far, the Royals have been doing everything right.
The second factor is that a number of players on this team are getting hot at the right time. The term "small sample size" is often used in sports, especially baseball, to deride players who play well in short spurts but get exposed with more playing time. Nearly every player has a 2-3 week stretch where they play above the mean, where every hit finds a gap. That might not account for much in a 162-game season. But when it happens in October, it's magical.
Let's look at some have the players who've shined for the Royals this postseason. There's Mike Moustakas, who hit .212 for the year with 15 home runs, and was sent to the minors in May after a terrible start to the season. He's hit 4 home runs during the postseason, in addition to playing spectacular defense. Outfielder Lorenzo Cain hit .533 in the series against the Orioles. First baseman Eric Hosmer, a .270 hitter during the season, has hit .448 in the playoffs. If you believe in the concept of clutch performance, then these guys are clutch. Or they just have just fantastic timing.
Then there's the bunting. Oh, the bunting. Baseball fans in general are in two camps on bunting: there are those who hate the idea of giving up an out to advance a runner (and will show you the statistics to prove it's a bad idea), and those who believe that finding any way you can to push a run across home plate is perfectly acceptable. Ned Yost likes to bunt, even when he's got a guy hitting over .500 at the plate. And while not every sacrifice has worked for the Royals this postseason, many have. Again, they're making the most of a small sample size. You can call it small ball, call it boring, call it terrible strategy. But the Royals have yet to lose in the playoffs.
Whatever happens in the World Series, this is a great story for baseball. Yes, the Royals are proving that a small market team that has no big-name stars and a manageable payroll can go far. That should give hope to every fan of small-market teams. But all the stars have to align. In the big picture, the statistics still show that in baseball, spending equals winning. Maybe what we're seeing this year is an anomaly. If it is, we should all enjoy it while it lasts.
