Fans of the Kansas City Royals were doing a whole lot of 401(k) checking and fantasy football draft planning after an 8-21 stretch from mid-July into early August took their beloved World Series winners to 11 games behind the first-place Cleveland Indians in the American League Central on Aug. 5.
It was ov-ah. The Royals, at 51-57, were finished.
Kansas City was 7-19 in July, when the starting pitchers had an ERA of 5.27 and the bullpen was worse, at 5.96. Outside of left-hander Danny Duffy, the Royals were throwing three hours of batting practice every night.