1998 Kansas City Royals season

Last updated

1998  Kansas City Royals
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)
←  1997 Seasons 1999  →

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.

Contents

Offseason

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]

Season standings

AL Central 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Cleveland Indians 89730.549—46–3543–38
Chicago White Sox 80820.494944–3736–45
Kansas City Royals 72890.44716½29–5143–38
Minnesota Twins 70920.4321935–4635–46
Detroit Tigers 65970.4012432–4933–48

Record vs. opponents

1998 American League record

Sources:
TeamANABALBOSCWSCLEDETKCMINNYYOAKSEATBTEXTORNL 
Anaheim —5–66–55–64–78–36–56–56–55–79–36–55–74–710–6
Baltimore 6–5—6–62–95–610–15–67–33–98–36–55–76–55–75–11
Boston 5–66–6—5–68–35–58–35–65–79–27–49–36–55–79–7
Chicago 6–59–26–5—6–66–68–46–64–74–74–75–65–64–6–17–9
Cleveland 7–46–53–86–6—9–38–46–64–73–89–27–34–77–410–6
Detroit 3–81–105–56–63–9—6–68–43–87–43–85–63–85–67–9
Kansas City 5–66–53–84–84–86–6—7–50–107–44–68–33–86–59–7
Minnesota 5–63–76–56–66–64–85–7—4–74–72–97–47–44–77–9
New York 5–69–37–57–47–48–310–07–4—8–38–311–18–36–613–3
Oakland 7–53–82–97–48–34–74–77–43–8—5–75–66–65–68–8
Seattle 3–95–64–77–42–98–36–49–23–87–5—6–55–74–77–9
Tampa Bay 5–67–53–96–53–76–53–84–71–116–55–6—4–75–75–11
Texas 7–55–65–66–57–48–38–34–73–86–67–57–4—7–48–8
Toronto 7–47–57–56–4–14–76–55–67–46–66–57–47–54–7—9–7

Roster

1998 Kansas City Royals
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

Manager

Coaches

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

PosPlayerGABRHHRRBIAvg.Slg.SB
C Mike Sweeney 922823273835.259.4082
1B Jeff King 131486831282493.263.45110
2B José Offerman 158607102191766.315.43845
3B Dean Palmer 1525728415934119.278.5108
SS Mendy López 742061850115.243.3255
LF Jeff Conine 933093079843.256.4173
CF Johnny Damon 1616421041781866.277.43926
RF Larry Sutton 1113102976542.245.3523
DH Terry Pendleton 792371761329.257.3381

[7]

Other batters

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

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Hal Morris 127472146.309140
Larry Sutton 11131076.245542
Sal Fasano 7421649.227831
Shane Mack 6620758.280629
Shane Halter 8620445.221213
Luis Rivera 428922.24707
Félix Martínez 348511.12905
Jermaine Allensworth 307315.20503
Jeremy Giambi 185813.22428
Carlos Beltrán 145816.27607
Ernie Young 255310.18913
Scott Leius 17468.17404
Tim Spehr 11256.24012
Carlos Febles 112510.40002
Chris Hatcher 8151.06701
Mike Macfarlane 3111.09100
Chris Turner 490.00000
Joe Vitiello 371.14300
Héctor Ortiz 440.00000
Jed Hansen 430.00000
Dee Brown 530.00000

Starting pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Tim Belcher 34234.014144.27130
Pat Rapp 32188.112135.30132
José Rosado 38174.28114.69135
Glendon Rusch 29154.26155.8894
Brian Barber 842.0246.0024
Kevin Appier 315.0127.809

Other pitchers

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

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Hipólito Pichardo 27112.1785.1355
Chris Haney 3397.1667.0351
Jamie Walker 617.1019.8715
Jeff Suppan 412.2000.7112
Relief pitchers

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

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Jeff Montgomery 5625364.9854
Scott Service 736443.4895
Matt Whisenant 702124.9045
Jim Pittsley 391106.5944
Brian Bevil 393106.3047
Ricky Bones 322213.0438
Bart Evans 80003.007
Allen McDill 700010.503
Danny Rios 50106.146
Tim Byrdak 30005.401
José Santiago 20009.002
Shane Halter 10000.000

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Omaha Royals Pacific Coast League Ron Johnson
AA Wichita Wranglers Texas League John Mizerock
A Wilmington Blue Rocks Carolina League Darrell Evans, Kevin Long and Brian Poldberg
A Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League Bob Herold
A-Short Season Spokane Indians Northwest League Jeff Garber
Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Andre David

[8]

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. ↑ "Yamil Benitez Stats".
  2. ↑ Terry Pendleton Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  3. ↑ Lee Smith Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ↑ "Ernie Young Stats".
  5. ↑ "Brewers switch leagues, join Reds in NL Central". The Kentucky Post (Associated Press). E. W. Scripps Company. November 6, 1997. Archived from the original on May 5, 2005.
  6. ↑ Pappas, Doug, "News Briefs: Fall 1997" Archived July 27, 2008, at the Wayback Machine , Outside the Lines, Fall 1997.
  7. ↑ "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
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