Two weeks ago, I came to you and insisted the Royals should be buyers at the trade deadline despite their abysmal record. The biggest reason I made that argument was because, despite the general assertion that baseball has operated as a “seller’s market” since it modified the playoff schedule to send 12 of its 30 teams to the postseason every year, buyers simply didn’t exist in the numbers people assumed they would.
That’s exactly how it played out. In the American League, there were 11 teams within five games of a playoff spot come deadline day.