1998 Kansas City Royals season explained

Kansas City Royals
Season:	1998
League:	American League
Division:	Central
Ballpark:	Kauffman Stadium
City:	Kansas City, Missouri
Owners:	David Glass
General Managers:	Herk Robinson
Managers:	Tony Muser
Television:	KMBC-TV KCWB Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (Paul Splittorff, Bob Davis)
Radio:	WKBZ (Denny Matthews, Fred White)

The 1998 Kansas City Royals season was a season in American baseball. It involved the Royals finishing third in the American League Central with a record of 72 wins and 89 losses.

Offseason

• November 18, 1997: Yamil Benitez was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks from the Kansas City Royals as the 19th pick in the 1997 expansion draft.^[1]
• January 20, 1998: Terry Pendleton was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.^[2]
• January 20, 1998: Lee Smith signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.^[3]
• March 17, 1998: Ernie Young was purchased by the Kansas City Royals from the Oakland Athletics.^[4]

Regular season

Before the 1998 regular season began, two new teams—the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays—were added by Major League Baseball. This resulted in the American League and National League having fifteen teams. However, in order for MLB officials to continue primarily intraleague play, both leagues would need to carry a number of teams that was divisible by two, so the decision was made to move one club from the AL Central to the NL Central.

This realignment was widely considered to have great financial benefit to the club moving. However, to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest, Commissioner (then club owner) Bud Selig decided another team should have the first chance to switch leagues. The choice was offered to the Kansas City Royals, who ultimately decided to stay in the American League and bypassing the opportunity to build a full-time rivalry with the St. Louis Cardinals.^[5] The choice then fell to the Brewers, who, on November 6, 1997, elected to move to the National League. Had the Brewers elected not to move to the National League, the Minnesota Twins would have been offered the opportunity to switch leagues.^[6]

Roster

1998 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers		CatchersInfielders		OutfieldersOther batters		ManagerCoaches (third base) (bench)

Player stats

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; Avg. = Batting average; Slg. = Slugging average; SB = Stolen bases

Pos	Player	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	Avg.	Slg.	SB
C		92	282	32	73	8	35	.259	.408	2
1B		131	486	83	128	24	93	.263	.451	10
2B		158	607	102	191	7	66	.315	.438	45
3B		152	572	84	159	34	119	.278	.510	8
SS			74		206		18		50	1	15	.243	.325		5
LF		93	309	30	79	8	43	.256	.417	3
CF			161	642	104	178		18		66	.277		.439	26
RF		111	310	29	76	5	42	.245	.352	3
DH		79	237	17	61	3	29		.257	.338	1

^[7]

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player	G	AB	H	Avg.	HR	RBI
	127	472	146	.309	1	40
	111	310	76	.245	5	42
	74	216	49	.227	8	31
	66	207	58	.280	6	29
	86	204	45	.221	2	13
	42	89	22	.247	0	7
	34	85	11	.129	0	5
	30	73	15	.205	0	3
	18	58	13	.224	2	8
	14	58	16	.276	0	7
	25	53	10	.189	1	3
	17	46	8	.174	0	4
	11	25	6	.240	1	2
	11	25	10	.400	0	2
	8	15	1	.067	0	1
	3	11	1	.091	0	0
	4	9	0	.000	0	0
	3	7	1	.143	0	0
	4	4	0	.000	0	0
	4	3	0	.000	0	0
	5	3	0	.000	0	0

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	34	234.0	14	14	4.27	130
	32	188.1	12	13	5.30	132
	38	174.2	8	11	4.69	135
	29	154.2	6	15	5.88	94
	8	42.0	2	4	6.00	24
	3	15.0	1	2	7.80	9

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	IP	W	L	ERA	SO
	27	112.1	7	8	5.13	55
	33	97.1	6	6	7.03	51
	6	17.1	0	1	9.87	15
	4	12.2	0	0	0.71	12

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player	G	W	L	SV	ERA	SO
	56	2	5	36	4.98	54
	73	6	4	4	3.48	95
	70	2	1	2	4.90	45
	39	1	1	0	6.59	44
	39	3	1	0	6.30	47
	32	2	2	1	3.04	38
	8	0	0	0	3.00	7
	7	0	0	0	10.50	3
	5	0	1	0	6.14	6
	3	0	0	0	5.40	1
	2	0	0	0	9.00	2
	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

^[8]

References

• 1998 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference
• 1998 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac

Notes and References

1. Web site: Yamil Benitez Stats.
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pendlte01.shtml Terry Pendleton Statistics
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smithle02.shtml Lee Smith Statistics
4. Web site: Ernie Young Stats.
5. News: Brewers switch leagues, join Reds in NL Central. The Kentucky Post (Associated Press). E. W. Scripps Company. November 6, 1997. https://web.archive.org/web/20050505095313/http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1997/brew110697.html. May 5, 2005.
6. Pappas, Doug, "News Briefs: Fall 1997", Outside the Lines, Fall 1997.
7. Web site: 1998 Seattle Mariners Statistics.
8. Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007