Yes, there was a small dumpster fire outside Kauffman Stadium on Sunday

Nine straight losses. Four wins in their last 31 games. A 25-64 record.

Yeah, it's been a rough time for the Royals. So vice president of communications Toby Cook understands why some fans may have had a laugh Sunday when the Kansas City fire department responded to a dumpster fire outside Kauffman Stadium.

"It probably makes for an irresistible social-media hashtag," Cook said.

The dumpster-fire meme is probably shared more than any other on social media when a sports team is struggling. In fact, Merriam-Webster added dumpster fire to its online dictionary just this year.

So, yeah, it was noteworthy when the Kansas City fire department was called to Lot C at 1 Royal Way during Sunday's 7-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Here's the thing: it's not an unusual event.

Cook said a fan who had been tailgating threw coals a large trash receptacle (which the team discourages).

"It probably happens 10 times a year," Cook said. "Smoldering ashes catch fire in a trash can somewhere."

That means it even happened a number of times during that magical 2015 season. Oh, and it's not the raging fire seen in the memes.

Usually the Royals use a couple of coolers of water to put it out. The difference Sunday?

A fan called the fire department, so it was overheard by media members.

"It was out before the fire department got there," Cook noted.

Some fans had fun with it:

This story was originally published July 9, 2018 at 11:52 AM.