Just because the Royals appeared in consecutive World Series and won the second of those two as little as six years ago doesn't mean that it's been easy for the team's fan base in recent years. After all, going from a World Series victory to a 104-loss season in just a three-year span is no small descent. And after two consecutive fourth-place finishes, it might not seem like the time is now for Kansas City to make a deep run.
Just don't tell manager Mike Matheny that.
"We are finished talking about developing, and we are constantly talking about winning," Matheny told Jon Heyman on the latest episode of the Audacy Sports "Big Time Baseball" podcast. "That's what we're paid to do, first of all. Secondly, I believe that's what we're wired to do."
Matheny detailed the evolution of a baseball player — from hopeful, aspiring prospect that still needs to prove his game to himself, all the way to established threat that has proven his ability to help a team win — and he sees his club as a strong group of players, many of whom find themselves somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.
"...This is a group that has a lot of faith in themselves," Matheny said. "I was very fortunate in our very first meeting — you know, raise your hand if you have a World Series championship ring — and we have a number of guys, whether it was on the '15 team here with the Royals or a number of other teams, but guys who had that kind of winning experience and that's important for us because it helps set the template for what the expectation is."
The team's offseason moves make it easy to see that setting this aforementioned winning expectation was part of the agenda. Bringing in names like Carlos Santana, Andrew Benintendi and Mike Minor — all of whom are either All-Stars or World Series winners — are perfect examples of this. Minor got a win in his Royals debut. And though Santana and Benintendi have struggled to start, they're serving as leaders and will likely improve back to their established levels of production.
Are they supposed to be winning? That's for them to decide, and a 4-3 record is a good start.
"But make no mistake about it, whether or not the experts believe in us, that's not really of our importance," Matheny said. "What we need to do is focus on what we need to do, and that is to go out and play championship-style baseball.
"We've got a lot of work to do. We're gonna have to do a lot of little things right. We know that. But this group's committed to doing the work."
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow Audacy Sports
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram