The Fantastic 4%

I normally don’t make two posts on this blog in one day, but I have been slacking off lately because I AM TOO BUSY WATCHING THE ROYALS WIN. Being undefeated will do that to a fan, so please pardon my laziness if you are one of the few fine folks who reads my words of Royals wisdom.

I have noticed a trend of growing Royals excitement on twitter and facebook the past 6 months or so, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to put out creative new ways to express my love for the team, while at the same time being able to provide meaningful statistics that I think are helpful for enjoying the beautiful game of baseball. My goal when I started this blog was simply to get a lot of thoughts out of my head so my wife didn’t have to sit and listen to my ranting, and also because I am fascinated with the statistics side of this sport and I wanted to share that fascination with anyone who bothered to read my writing. And that is exactly what I intend to do in this post. 

Earlier today, I shared my friend Kevin’s words about luck for all the Royals haters out there, and in this current post, I wanted to highlight some interesting statistics from the 7 games that the Royals have played so far. It is only 4% of the season, but what a fantastic 4%  (not to be confused with the Fantastic KC Four below) it has been!

First and foremost, the Royals remain without a loss for their second-best start in team history. Their best start was in 2003 when they went 9-0 (and got all the way to 16-3), before ultimately choking away a chance at the playoffs. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen this year!

Second, the Royals are crushing the ball and have hit at least one home run in every single game this season. Their 10 home runs are second most in baseball (and more than the stupid Tigers have hit). Please watch this video of Kendrys Morales’ second home run of the season. It was massive. The Royals also lead all of baseball with a .532 slugging percent (suck it Detroit) and have scored the most runs in the league, including scoring at least 4 runs in every single game. If you recall last year, the Royals magic number seemed to be 4 as they won almost every game when they scored that many runs. Same thing this year, and they also have 2 games with at least 10 runs. 

Third, the Royals are getting on base in 40% of their at-bats (second-best in the MLB) and they are doing so from 83 hits (third most in MLB), 20 bases on balls (18th most in MLB), AND 12 HIT BY PITCHES. Yes, they have been hit by 12 pitches, including 4 each by Alex Gordon and Mike Moustakas. I guess opposing teams hate the Royals now, and outside of Alex Rios needing an x-ray for his hand after getting hit yesterday, I will take those 12 free bases.

Fourth, the team has the fifth lowest ERA in baseball (2.57) and allow the fewest walks and hits per inning (0.86), have the second-most saves (4), have given up the fourth fewest earned runs (18), and have given up the fewest bases on balls (10). The pitchers are all benefiting from the fantastic defense behind them: As defensive wizards, the Royals are tied for fewest errors in all of baseball with only 1. Salvy Perez has thrown out all 3 players who have tried to steal a base on him. Don't run on Sheriff Sal. When are teams going to learn?

Sheriff Sal - don't get caught trying to steal!

 This team is so incredibly exciting to watch right now that if you haven’t tuned in to a game yet, you are missing out. The Royals have a few more games in Minnesota this week, then they head back to KC to welcome Billy Butler to town. Please get me one of the AL Champion replica trophies that they are giving out on Saturday. I will pay you back with many more blog posts about the Royals, k?