The Kansas City Royals had a couple of hot streaks throughout the final month or so of the MLB season, but ultimately they came up five games short of a playoff berth with an 86-win season. However, the team did finish with its first winning record in 10 years. I guess you could view that as an improvement, as Royals general manager Dayton Moore certainly seems to.
Despite the fact that Kansas City continued its streak of more than 25 years without a postseason berth, Moore told reporters in his season-ending press conference that he felt like his team just won a championship.
“In a small way, I feel like we’ve won the World Series,” he said Tuesday, per Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star.
Moore immediately regretted the comment. He was obviously trying express how proud he was of the team for the improvements that were made, but he has been getting ripped for comparing an 86-win season to a World Series championship. He later tried to explain himself.
“What I’m saying, I mean, look, ‘World Series’ is the wrong term,” he said. “But I feel very, very good about where our organization is. It means a lot to me. You have to know how I’m wired. The only reason I’m a general manager is that this is my boyhood team. It’s a special place for me.…
“And it means a lot to me that little boys want to grow up and be baseball players so they can be like Sal Perez or Eric Hosmer. That means a lot to me. That means everything to me. That means more to me than winning a World Series.”
Moore added that he expects the team to compete for an actual World Series going forward. He said the comment was more about how proud he is that the team has once again gotten fans to “engage” and love baseball. One thing Moore likely understands now is that a World Series is not a World Series unless it’s a World Series.
H/T Hardball Talk
