One of the few things that can salvage a losing season is a player battling to the end in pursuit of some individual statistical accomplishment. The race for a batting title or home run championship keeps fans looking at the box scores, even when all hope for team success has been abandoned.

Royals fans enjoyed such pursuits most significantly when George Brett raced for batting titles. Brett famously chased immortality in 1980, not in pursuit of a batting title – there was no other player near him in the race – but rather to finish with a .400 batting average. He fell just short, but owns the honor of being the only player to win batting titles in three separate decades (1976, 1980 and 1990).

The 1976 batting race was particularly interesting, because two Royals duked it out until the final day. Brett edged teammate Hal McRae by a single point, winning .333 to .332.

Dan Quisenberry won the most titles for Kansas City. He led the league in saves 5 times during the Royals heyday of the early 1980s. Royals players have led the league in wins and ERA multiple times.

In spite of all their failures this year, one Royal is in hot pursuit of a significant mark that is keeping things interesting. Whit Merrifield is giving fans a reason to stay tuned – with just a week’s worth of games left, he is leading the American League in stolen bases.

With 38 steals through Friday’s win at Detroit, Merrifield leads Mallex Smith of the Tampa Bay Rays by three.

Making Merrifield’s accomplishment even more significant is the fact that he led the American League in stolen bases last season as well. Four other Royals have led the league in larceny, but none ever did it twice.

Who better than announcer Denny Matthews, who has been with the Royals for every one of their 50 seasons, to analyze Merrifield’s thievery.

“He’s very good at picking up tendencies of pitchers, and looking at video, and talking to other guys about the pitchers,” Matthews said of Merrifield. “He studies and he works at it.”

Amos Otis was the first Royal to lead the league in stolen bases, with 52 in 1971. Freddie Patek was next to do it, with 53 in 1977. Willie Wilson set the team record for steals in a season when he led the league with 83 in 1979. And Johnny Damon led the American League in 2000 with 46.

Merrifield led the league with 34 last year. His stolen base totals pale in comparison to some of the Royals of the past. But Matthews said that is a product of the times.

“It depends on the era,” said Matthews. “Right now, home runs are a big deal. Stolen bases don’t mean all that much. They used to. The game was played differently. We’ve had some great base stealers. Freddie Patek was very good. Amos Otis was terrific. Whit’s that kind of a player.

“And while maybe in this era stolen bases don’t mean as much, they do to this team. Because of the park they play in, home runs don’t come that easily. The Royals have to manufacture runs any way they can, and Whit’s very attuned to that.”

One key to stealing bases is weighing the value of moving up 90 feet versus the potential for being thrown out. Merrifield is successful 79.6 percent of the time, which manager Ned Yost deems an acceptable rate to keep it up.

Merrifield isn’t successful as frequently as some of the Kansas City’s greatest base stealers. Carlos Beltran swiped 164 bases as a Royal and was only caught 12.3 percent of the time. Jerrod Dyson ripped off 176 bases with a 14.6 percent success rate. Wilson, the greatest base stealer in team history, stole 612 as a Royal and was caught just 16.3 percent of the time. Wilson stole 668 bases in his career to rank 12th all time.

Merrifield won’t approach any of those totals, but his success rate compares favorably to Otis (20.4), Damon (21.2) and Patek (24.3). And his ability to advance around the bases helps stoke the Royals’ offense.

“It sets a tone for each game. It’s taking the attitude of ‘What have I got to do to help the team win in this situation? I’ve got to get from first base to second base to give my team a better chance of getting a run in.’ That’s Whit’s thinking. That’s the type of player he is.”