A good feeling has returned to the Kansas City Royals clubhouse: ‘Winning baseball’
Even behind three sets of doors, music — from all the way inside the Royals clubhouse — could be heard permeating a lobby deep inside Kauffman Stadium on Saturday night.
As you walked through each door, the music got louder. In the locker room itself, it was deafening. The stereo blared “Pump It Up” by Endor, with the lyrics “You got to pump it up” repeating over and over.
Amid it all, Royals players spoke (shouted, really) in a mixture of Spanish and English. The mood inside the locker room was downright festive ... for good reason.
After defeating the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, the Royals (5-4) were over .500 for the first time since April 10, 2022.
A feat the club hasn’t accomplished for 727 days.
This act of history wasn’t lost on Royals outfielder MJ Melendez — a player who believes this team isn’t the same old Royals.
“It’s definitely something that I realized pretty much toward the end of the game, but definitely after the game,” he said. “It’s a great feeling, man. That’s what winning baseball feels like and I just want to continue to feel that.”
Of course, it is still early in the season, and Royals manager Matt Quatraro downplayed the significance of making it over .500.
“Wins, regardless, are what we are chasing, right,” Quatraro said. “For the guys to put three together here after a tough series in Baltimore is a really nice way to start the home stand.”
That winning has brought a different feel around the locker room.
It’s easy to say the energy is different around this team. And “energy” has become a buzzword Royals players have repeated the past few days.
That said, the vibe — early on — has certainly changed.
Last season, it took until April 22 for the Royals to hit five wins. By that point, KC had a 5-16 record. In the coming weeks, the mood was certainly tense at times.
This year, wins (and bounce-back outings) are already coming more frequently.
“As you can tell, the team chemistry is going really well,” Melendez said. “We’re having fun. At the end of the day, its a game, and I think we are playing it that way.”
Who gets the credit for that? Quatraro pushed the attention toward the players.
“That’s great,” Quatraro said. “I think that’s a credit to them. That’s their energy — their clubhouse. We’ve added some guys to the mix that bring a different kind of energy. We’ve also got another year under our belts of the guys that were here.”
And starting pitching has continued to play a role in that, too.
Royals pitcher Michael Wacha — who has not been surprised by the strong start — continued the trend of KC starters quieting opposing hitters. He pitched seven shutout innings while striking out eight.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in this clubhouse,” Wacha said. “We know what kind of team we’ve got, and we believe in ourselves that we can go out there and compete with anybody.
“We’ve still got a lot of work to do — a lot of things we can clean up. It was a good series win, but going for the sweep tomorrow.”
