100 losses used to mark Royals futility. This time is different.

In the days after taking on the greatest challenge in baseball 12 years ago, Dayton Moore knew his success or failure would be judged by the long term. But, all the same, he had two personal goals he held firm and shared with at least some.

“I’ve never finished last and I’ve never lost 100 games,” he said. “I don’t plan on starting now.”

Moore had no way of knowing how difficult his new job was in those days, not fully, and that team spent every day after April 12 in last place and lost exactly 100 games.

You may have noticed the 2018 Royals just lost their 100th game, with enough time left that the franchise record of 106 is still in play.

But we come today not to bury, but to lift.

This is the fifth Royals team to lose 100 games. The first was in 2002. Sitting on 99 losses entering the final game, manager Tony Peña used a JV lineup, a move that soured many alumni toward the franchise for years.

After an 83-win fluke in 2003 that is only harder to believe as time goes on, the Royals lost 104 in 2004, 106 in 2005, and 100 more in 2006. No team had lost 100 or more in three straight seasons for more than two decades. No non-expansion team had done it in nearly a half century.

Those were miserable, comical, hopeless and embarrassing teams.

This isn’t that.

The 2018 Royals may challenge for the worst record in franchise history, but they could be remembered as something much better. They could be remembered as the beginning. A young and energetic core that should improve and be around for years has played close to .500 since the All-Star break.

The 2004 Royals promoted a minor leaguer none of his teammates had heard of rather than trigger a relatively small contract clause to call up a respected veteran. That team’s closer had a 4.95 ERA. Ken Harvey was their All-Star.

The 2005 Royals batted Calvin Pickering, Eli Marrero and Matt Diaz cleanup. They gave Jose Lima 32 stars despite a 6.99 ERA, a feat unmatched in baseball history.

The 2006 Royals started 14 pitchers more than twice, and none had an ERA under 5.12. Zack Greinke quit. David Glass started interviewing GM candidates weeks before he fired the GM on staff.

If jokes are made about the 2018 team, they will center around the starting catcher and top power-hitting prospect going down in luggage-related accidents. They lost 20 of their first 25, and managed just five wins the entire month of June.

But, mostly, the story of this team will center around Adalberto Mondesi’s promise, Brad Keller’s surprise, and Whit Merrifield’s success.

The record is an abomination — Moore went on national radio and said he was “embarrassed” by the results — and made worse by the front office’s stated expectation of competing. The Royals will finish with a worse record than many teams that are openly tanking.

But baseball is never won on the broad strokes. If it was, the Royals never would’ve climbed from the abyss. They would forever be The Team Without Cell Phones, and never have become 2015 World Series champions.

Moore’s Royals have always won in the details. Scouts had a dress code, and baseball operations staff wore ties on game days. They signed Yordano Ventura because of the arm action, Sal Perez because of the smile, and had this crazy idea about filling their outfield with center fielders and their bullpen with closers.

They once won Game 6 of the American League Championship Series because their scouts and coaches had conspired to prepare their fastest runners for a most unlikely situation — to score from first on a single, without running on the pitch, but only if the ball was hit down the right-field line.

They notice things, in other words, and this year they’ve noticed some things that brighten the future.

Merrifield is what scouts sometimes refer to as a championship player. Mondesi is a superstar talent working like the 26th man. Keller is having one of the all-time seasons for a Rule 5 pick. Jorge Soler has played just 61 games, but showed enough that the club believes he’s good for 25 homers or more in a healthy season.

Jakob Junis’ slider remains the foundation for a potential rotation piece, Wily Peralta has an intriguing fastball, Ryan O’Hearn’s power is late-developing but real, Brett Phillips can change games in center field, and Hunter Dozier is smashing fastballs.

This was always going to be an awkward season. Moore’s front office is diabolically opposed to tanking, so a season like this was never the plan. Mike Moustakas materialized from a bizarre offseason at a discount rate, and with other veterans like Lucas Duda and Jon Jay the Royals thought they could avoid the worst of the standings.

Those hopes died early. First, the bullpen turned into a nightly tire fire. When that settled, the offense bottomed. When they scored runs, the rotation faltered.

That’s what bad teams do, but there’s a difference between a losing season and a lost season. Royals franchise history is full of both, but since Moore’s arrival and a higher commitment from Glass, they’ve avoided the latter.

This team was never going to make a playoff run. Internal projections were for 90 or so losses, and the front office did not need to chase distant dreams with middling free-agent contracts.

But if they missed from a wider perspective, they hit a lot of the most important details. Bringing back Moose was nice for fans, and brought back Phillips and Jorge Lopez in a trade. They needed to see progression from Mondesi; they’ve seen more than they expected.

Some rival scouts had wondered if Merrifield was more than an average player; he’s fourth among all second basemen in WAR. Junis, Heath Fillmyer and Lopez have shown reason to believe. Keller has been a revelation — a $50,000 bet that’s turned into a piece of a potential championship rotation.

The Royals lost their 98th, 99th, and 100th games in Pittsburgh, swept by an average Pirates team doing its own version of 2019 prep. But on Monday, O’Hearn hit his 11th homer in his 36th big-league game. On Tuesday, Eric Skoglund pitched six scoreless innings. On Wednesday, Mondesi hit a 421-foot homer and Heath Fillmyer pitched seven innings with no walks and two runs.

They’re losing games, but they’re not losing ground.

That’s the difference between these Royals and the others who lost this often.

Sam Mellinger

Sam Mellinger is a Kansas City Star sports columnist.

This story was originally published September 19, 2018 at 9:27 PM.