2015 Royals Back to the Future
 

The 2015 Kansas City Royals got on an aeroplane in Phoenix, Arizona in late March of 2015 to fly north for a promising season.

They landed in the year 1985. No smartphones. No Kardashians. Lots of Billy Ocean and Madonna on the radio. Everybody in the world has a mullet. Where's George Brett? Who are these guys who call themselves the KC Royals? How come none of them have mullets?

The season starts in three days. Can this team of gritty misfits from the future win the hearts of KC sports fans? Can they even win 75 games in the American League of 1985, a dangerous world where starting pitchers tend to go longer than five innings?

The MLB fandom is shocked to find two more teams from 2015 have descended into the mid-80s. The 2015 Colorado Rockies have settled into the NL West. The 2015 Washington Nationals will duke it out with the Cardinals, Cubs, Mets and Expos in the NL East.

Nobody knows what's going to happen. But this season will play out, game by game by game, until a World Series champion is crowned.

I will do my best to keep you all updated.

It's still 1985, deal with it
 

Hey, at least Madison Bumgarner isn't pitching in 1985. The 2015 Royals can take solace in that, even though by opening day, they're all pretty sick of hearing "We Are the World" getting played all over KC radio every 20 minutes.

These Royals might be World Series contenders from the future, but they still have needs. At second base, for example. Omar Infante just isn't gonna cut it. And Ben Zobrist is only a toddler in 1985, so that option is out. So KC politely asks the Mets if they might part with switch-hitting 2B Wally Backman in exchange for some prospects they've never heard of.

The Mets say: NO.

So the Royals trade somebody whose name I already forgot for Rob Wilfong, who is just gathering dust on the California Angels' bench. Wilfong's stick is next to useless, but he can bunt and run a little, and his D is still upper-tier. If we're gonna hit fewer doubles, let's at least turn more double plays.

KC's season starts soon at the Big K against Milwaukee. The Brewers went to the World Series in 1982 and still strut around like they own the American League or something. Nobody in 1985 knows what to expect of this new-look, out-of-nowhere Royals team. So ... let's show them.

Meet the Royals, everybody
 

The 2015 Royals opened the 1985 season on Saturday, April 1 in front of 37,750 fans at Kaufmann Stadium. Gray skies, intermittent drizzle and chilly temps (47 degrees at 1st pitch) set the tone for a low-scoring contest.

The Royals won it, 3-1, but needed a late rally. The Brewers took a 1-0 lead against KC starter Yordano Ventura in the top of the sixth on a Ben Ogilvie RBI single. But in the bottom of the eighth, Lorenzo Cain ripped an RBI double to tie the game, then Eric Hosmer followed with a 2-run single to RF.

Wade Davis allowed 2 hits in a shaky ninth inning, but managed to close out the win. Ventura allowed 1 run on four hits (all singles) over 7 innings, walking 3 and striking out 9. But Ryan Madson got the win in relief.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 2

ROYALS 1, BREWERS 0

Another miserable day for baseball. It was 37 degrees and windy at first pitch, but a hardy crowd of just under 35,000 happily risked freezing to death to watch Edinson Volquez and three KC relievers shut out the Brew Crew 1-0. Another RBI single by Hosmer plated Cain in the fourth inning for the day's only run. Davis notched his second save. Volquez got the win, holding the Brewers to just four hits over six innings.

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MONDAY, APRIL 3

ROYALS 6, BREWERS 5

The weather didn't warm up much, but the bats did. Again, it was Lo Cain doing the damage; his 2-run double in the 5th inning broke a 1-1 tie. Then later the same inning, Kendrys Morales smacked a 3-run HR to make it a 6-1 KC lead. The Brewers chipped away against the Royals' deep bullpen. A solo HR by Robin Yount pulled the Crew within 6-5 in the top of the eighth. But this time, Kelvin Herrera locked it down with a 1-2-3 ninth inning, to make it 1-2-3 straight wins to start the season.

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