There is a small group of Royals fans that aged into baseball consciousness right as the Royals franchise barreled into arguably the worst stretch of baseball in the modern era. I was one of those Royals fans. I started kindergarten in 2000 and during my elementary years, the peak of my baseball obsession, the Royals lost at least 97 games five times in seven seasons, including four 100 loss seasons.
The 2003 season was quite a thrill for third grade me, but it was short-lived. From 2007-2012, the losing was a bit more painful. As a middle-schooler and then a high schooler, my ability to be okay with 100-loss seasons faded.