The following article appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal on Aug. 17 – you can read it by clicking here.

How quickly, it seems, did the Kansas City Royals fall from World Champions. Just four years removed from the pinnacle of baseball, they are now the third-worst team in the game.

Is the current situation the product of horrible management, the inevitable lapse after a championship, or some acceptable phase in the process of transition from one success to another?

We won’t know the ultimate answer to that question for years to come. But in hosting the New York Mets at Kauffman Stadium this weekend, the Royals can reflect on the rapid demise of other contenders.

When the Royals defeated the Mets in the 2015 World Series, New York fans justifiably took a “wait-‘til-next-year” attitude. After all, the Mets appeared built for a sustained run. Starting pitchers Jacob deGrom, Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard were as talented a 20-somethings trio as you could hope for. Closer Jeurys Familia, just 25 himself, was dominant.

But just two years later, the Mets were an also-ran. They’ve fought their way back to respectability, but are still probably not playoff worthy.

So, you might argue, what does one example of a quick demise prove? Well, take a look at some of the other playoff teams from 2014, the year the Royals reached the World Series:

• The Baltimore Orioles, the second-best team in the American League in 2014, are now one of the worst teams in history. (They are on pace to win just 100 games over a two-year span!)
• The Los Angeles Angels, the best team in the AL that season, have yet to return to the playoffs, and have been sub-.500 for the past four seasons, even with the game’s best player in Mike Trout.
• And the Detroit Tigers, who bested the Royals for the AL Central in 2014, have had just one winning season since, and are currently the worst team in baseball.

Look at 2015 for more evidence of what can happen to contenders:

• The Toronto Blue Jays, second only to the Royals in regular-season wins in 2015, are in their fifth-straight season of decline and are now on pace to lose 96 games.
• The Pittsburg Pirates, Wild Card participants in both 2014 and 2015, are currently on pace to lose 95 games.

Granted, the Royals are on a two-year skid that rivals that of the Orioles, so no one should be patting himself on the back in Kansas City. Still, there is some consolation in knowing that such collapses happen frequently in the era of free-agency.

The Royals chose to try to contend in 2016 and 2017 with the same group intact rather than quickly turn over what they’d built. What resulted was a slow decline leading to the bottom of the heap. So this rebuild may take a while. But they are not alone in their current circumstance. They can look across the diamond at Syndergaard, deGrom, et al, and take solace that at least they won a championship.

Tebow watch on hold:

The Mets come to Kansas City just a few weeks before the annual expansion of big league rosters. The timing seemed unfortunate to the Kauffman crowd, because it was believed the Mets might promote former Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow to their big-league roster come September. Just image if Touchdown Timmy had made his big league debut at Kauffman Stadium.

But alas, Tebow won’t reach the big leagues this year, and his chances of ever making the show are taking a serious blow. Tebow suffered a cut on his throwing hand and will be out for the rest of the season.

With Tebow just a step away from his ultimate goal, a rule change poses a serious threat to his future. The former quarterback turned 32 on Wednesday and probably needed the benefit of big September rosters to ever make the big leagues. Under the current rules, anyone on a club’s 40-man roster could be promoted in September.

But starting next year, expansion will only permit 28 players. With fewer spots available, room for Tebow may never exist. His window of opportunity certainly becomes a lot smaller come next season.

Anniversary of pennant race denied:

Through the decades of futility in Kansas City, the Royals looked back to 1994 as the last time they finished above .500, and the last time they chased a playoff spot.

Twenty-five years ago this week, major league players walked out on strike, just as the Royals emerged as the hottest team in baseball. In July and August of 1994, they won 14 in a row to make up 7.5 games in the standings and insert themselves in the playoff hunt. Kansas City boasted one of the best pitching staffs in the game, with starters David Cone, Kevin Appier, Mark Gubicza and Tom Gordon, plus closer Jeff Montgomery.

But on August 12, the players struck. When a resolution proved elusive, the season was eventually scrapped. It was the only time since 1904 that a World Series was not held.

The Royals finished 64-51, with nearly a third of the season left unplayed. Thus fans were denied the thrill of a pennant race, and they would have to wait 19 years for another realistic shot.

But unlike the New York Mess, the Royals did eventually win a championship.