Kansas City Royals in Action!
The 1971 season was the first winning season of the Royals. The team's talented manager Bob Lemon guided the team to a second-place finish. In 1973, the team changed the manager for Jack McKeon, but already two years later the manager changed again. In 1975, when Whitney Herzog replaced McKeon, the Royals quickly became the dominant franchise in the American League Western Division. They managed to win three straight division championships from 1976 to 1978. In 1979, the Royals took the second place and Herzog was replaced by Jim Frey. Under Frey, the Royals rebounded in 1980 and advanced to the ALCS, where they finally beat the Yankees. However, after reaching their first World Series, the Royals lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.
In 1984, the team faced the manager replacement again, and not in vain. Under Dick Howser, the Royals won their fifth division championship much to the merit of young pitchers Bret Saberhagen, Mark Gubicza, Bud Black and some others. However, the team was defeated by the Detroit Tigers, the eventual World Series champion, in the League Championship Series.
The period of 1995 to 2001 was a period of decline. The Royals did not achieve much under General Manager John Scheurholz, and, later on, the death of the team's owner worsened the situation. In 1997, the Royals missed the opportunity to switch to the National League as part of a realignment plan to introduce the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays as expansion teams.
In 2002, a new team record was set by the Royals ' not very good one though. They lost 100 (!) games for the first time in franchise history. On the whole, from 2002 to 2005 the team showed quite moderate playing with no highlights except for that in 2002. In 2007, their playing improved. In summer 2007 the Royals had their first winning month since summer 2003, and in July had their second consecutive winning month of the season.