The all-time Kansas City Royals bracket
By Bill Felber
No. 4 vs. 5 seed
In 2014, the Royals won the American League pennant, but lost a pulsating World Series in seven games to San Francisco. Save for the mound presence of James Shields, the cast was largely identical to the 2015 team. Cain batted .301 and Shields went 14-8 in 34 starts. Holland, Davis, and Herrera combined for 49 saves in 204 innings.
The 1977 Royals were the second of three consecutive Kansas City teams to lose a heartbreaking post-season series to the New York Yankees. This team won 102 games – still a franchise record –and captured the AL West by eight games ahead of Texas.
They took a 3-2 lead into the ninth inning of the decisive fifth ALCS game at home only to watch the Yankees score three times off Dennis Leonard, Larry Gura and Mark Littell. Ironically, the last of those three runs crossed the plate on an error by Brett.
Game 1: The 1977 team’s 102-60, .630 regular season record is the best in franchise history.
Game 2: The 2014 team swept through the pre-World Series rounds undefeated before losing to Madison Bumgarner and the Giants in seven games Their post-season record was 11-4, .753. The 1977 team went 2-3, .400
Game 3: The 1977 Royals had by far the superior offense, with a 109 OPS+. The 2014 club managed just 92, a sub-par performance.
Game 4: In 1977, Leonard, Gura, Paul Splittorff and the rest posted a 115 staff ERA+. That’s better than the 2014 team’s 113 ERA+.
Game 5: The 1977 team had a cumulative 51.0 WAR. In 2014, the Royals WAR was 41.9.
Result: 1977 in five games