Royals’ teams in first place after 70 games are rare

When the Royals moved into first place in the AL Central on Tuesday night, it marked the first time since 2003 that they led their division later than May 15. They never led in 2005, ’06, ’10 and ’12.

And according to STATS, LLC, the 2014 Royals are only the fourth KC team since the 1985 World Series champions to lead the division after 70 games. The others: 1987, ’93 and 2003.