Across the past four seasons, the Royals have slowly but surely transformed from a 100-loss team with a barren farm system into a slightly more tolerable team with a fruitful farm system waiting to see the harvest.
In 2018, the Royals lost 104 games, tied for the second most in franchise history. They lacked talent at every level, but most notably seen with a pitching staff that finished 29 out of 30 teams in fWAR.
The woes of a 100+ loss season were compounded by the talent developing slump the Royals had been in since drafting its World Series core.