We find ourselves 21 games in and the Royals are 14-7 and atop the America League Conference and the entire MLB. In 2020, the Royals finished second to last in the ALC only beating the Detroit Tigers by two games. So how did we get here?

Well, let’s start with the offseason. The Royals picked up players such as first baseman, left fielder Andrew Benintendi, center fielder Michael Taylor, second baseman Hanser Albert and even returning center fielder Jarrod Dyson who played for the royals from 2010 to 2016 and has bounced around the league ever since. 

However, alongside all these great pickups the Royals have crucial returning players like Whit Merrifield and Salvador Perez who currently lead the team in batting average. Salvador Perez signed a four-year, $82 million deal and hasn’t looked back since. He has five home runs on 19 hits and 12 RBIs including three walk-offs this season. 

But why will this season be different for the royals? The royals spent a huge amount of money along with making huge trades until they felt that they had a player in every position that could succeed. While this may be true, the place you win ball games is on the mound. 

In 2020, the Royals gave up the 10th most amount of runs a game at 4.53, a huge reason for their failure in 2020. Danny Duffy — who is now in his 10th regular season with the Royals — has opened up hotter than ever. He finds himself fourth in the league in runs allowed at just .39. But you also win games by closing them out, and that’s exactly what the royals see in Greg Holland. Holland played for the royals from 2010-2015 before bouncing around the league playing for Colorado, Washington, St. Louis, and Arizona between 2017-2020. 

He currently finds himself with two saves (T-17th). He’s definitely a player to watch for having a big season. From 2014-2016 Holland had 135 saves for the Royals, helping them to their first world series win since 1985. While there has been some slight improvement on the mound the big success and difference has been at the plate. 

Royals are 11th in the league in batting average with a .237. The Royals have played 21 games with 94 runs, 161 hits, 21 home runs. Season leaders are currently Carlos Santatna with 5 home runs,and 18 RBI’s, while Whit Merrifield has 24 hits. 

While also putting base runners in scoring position, currently sitting at third in the league with 22 stolen bases, Whit Merrifield leads the team and the league with 8. So while it may be too early to tell, I strongly believe that the increase in batting, while seeing some improvement on the mound, with time the Royals will find their groove on defense and could possibly make a long postseason run.