Kansas City Royals end season, brace for austerity

October in Kansas City is going to feel a little strange this year: The Royals did not qualify for the playoffs. Fans will not experience the suspense and elation that filled the calendar at this time in 2014 and 2015. It’s like 2013 again, when the big event of the fall was Lorde’s George Brett–inspired song reaching No. 1.

Injuries sapped the life out of the Royals’ World Series title defense. If the season came down to one play, it was the chase for the foul ball at Target Field in late May that left Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon in a heap. Moustakas tore a knee ligament and was done for the season. Gordon broke a bone in his wrist; when he returned to the lineup in late June, he struggled. (Gordon was pretty terrible to start the season, too.) Lorenzo Cain and Wade Davis also missed significant time because of injuries.

Relief pitcher Joakim Soria, who pitched poorly in a number of close games, became the focus of fans’ frustration. All things considered, though, the team did not underachieve. Opponents outscored the Royals by 37 runs over the course of the season. They were a bit lucky to finish at 81-81.

The 2017 Royals look like they’re going to need a few breaks (better health, a bounceback season from Gordon, a reliever to emerge like Kelvin Herrera did in 2014) if they hope to contend. The team can’t spend its way back into the postseason. At a news conference on Monday, general manager Dayton Moore said that he expected the team’s payroll, which was $137 million this year, to “regress a little bit.”

As Moore plans for a less extravagant future, fans will readjust to a baseball season that ends at 162 games. The next few days might not feel so weird. But on Thursday, both American League Division Series begin. Then it will sink in. There will be no big hits in the 12th inning, no premature tweets by another state’s governor, no beer showers for Paul Rudd, no parades.

Not this October, anyway.