If you have not guessed it by the name, number 19 on our list are the KC Royals in the 2016 season. In 2016 Mike built his royals up to a world series appearance, his only appearance in FCM. However, that was cut short in 6 games by the Houston Astros as they claimed their 2nd of 4 FCM championships.
In 2016, KC in the regular season was the clear cut number one team in the AL, putting together a record of 108-54. He finished 21.5 games ahead of the Detroit Tigers. On the other side, the Houston Astros compiled the same record (108-54) and they finished 19 games ahead of the wild card Chicago Cubs. This eventual match up in the series was a clear case of the 2 best teams of 2016 playing on the field. It is a shame for Mike that his 2016 team faced one of the best teams that FCM has seen, more on that in a future article.
What made this KC team so good? The simple answer is pitching. He put together one of the top 5 pitching staffs in all time of FCM. He had King Felix at 30 years of age, Aaron Crow at 29, Tyler Sample at 26 and Nat Walcott at 24 and in the pen he had Joakim Soria at 32. Mike's team on the season had a 3.37 ERA, tops in the NL and AL. The only other team under 4 run ERA in the AL was the NYY that was headlined by a rotation of Tim Lincecum, Blake Beavin and Clayton Kershaw.
I do not think Mike would have been able to hit 108 wins on pitching alone, something overlooked was his teams OBP. In 2016 his team also lead the majors in OBP as well with a .350 average. His team also finished 3rd that season in Batting average at .272 behind the NY Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. Mike had in his lineup the likes of Yonder Alonso who was in his 3rd year in a KC uniform. He hit .314 on the season with a .414 OBP, he also put up 22 homers with 99 RBI. However the catalyst to this offense was the addition of Michael Bourn in the off season from Atlanta. Bourn's legs were getting up there at 33 years of age but he put together a tremendous season hitting .284 with a .365 OBP. Up and down his lineup, his players performed, Moustakas with a .284 average and .353 OBP, McAbee with a .267 average and .383 obp.
In the series, Crow and King Felix delivered both with 2 starts each and each going 1-1 with mid 3 run era's. They did what they had to do to keep their team in the game and give Mike his chance at the ring. The rest of the staff was not up to task of the offensive juggernaut of the Houston Astros. The Astro's pitching in those games vs Crow and Felix lived up to their billing shutting down the KC hitting. Mike came close but now he sits yet so far, can he get back to the series? I think he can now that he has built a farm and is building within. Hopefully he can find and rebuild that magical formula that he had in 2016. Next on deck at 18 is Yankee doodle dandy.
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