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1998 Kansas City Royals season

Field	Value
name	Kansas City Royals
season	1998
league	American League
division	Central
ballpark	Kauffman Stadium
city	Kansas City, Missouri
record	72–89 ()
divisional_place	3rd
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)

KCWB Fox Sports Rocky Mountain (Paul Splittorff, Bob Davis) (Denny Matthews, Fred White) |}} The 1998 Kansas City Royals season was the 30th season for the franchise, and their 26th at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals finished third in the American League Central with a record of 72 wins and 89 losses and missed the postseason for the 13th consecutive season.

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.
January 20, 1998: Terry Pendleton was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.
January 20, 1998: Lee Smith signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.
March 17, 1998: Ernie Young was purchased by the Kansas City Royals from the Oakland Athletics.

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. 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.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Roster

1998 Kansas City Royals
Roster
Pitchers

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	Mike Sweeney	92	282	32	73	8	35	.259	.408	2
1B	Jeff King	131	486	83	128	24	93	.263	.451	10
2B	José Offerman	158	607	102	191	7	66	.315	.438	45
3B	Dean Palmer	152	572	84	159	34	119	.278	.510	8
SS	Mendy López		74		206		18		50	1	15	.243	.325		5
LF	Jeff Conine	93	309	30	79	8	43	.256	.417	3
CF	Johnny Damon		161	642	104	178		18		66	.277		.439	26
RF	Larry Sutton	111	310	29	76	5	42	.245	.352	3
DH	Terry Pendleton	79	237	17	61	3	29		.257	.338	1

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
Hal Morris	127	472	146	.309	1	40
Larry Sutton	111	310	76	.245	5	42
Sal Fasano	74	216	49	.227	8	31
Shane Mack	66	207	58	.280	6	29
Shane Halter	86	204	45	.221	2	13
Luis Rivera	42	89	22	.247	0	7
Félix Martínez	34	85	11	.129	0	5
Jermaine Allensworth	30	73	15	.205	0	3
Jeremy Giambi	18	58	13	.224	2	8
Carlos Beltrán	14	58	16	.276	0	7
Ernie Young	25	53	10	.189	1	3
Scott Leius	17	46	8	.174	0	4
Tim Spehr	11	25	6	.240	1	2
Carlos Febles	11	25	10	.400	0	2
Chris Hatcher	8	15	1	.067	0	1
Mike Macfarlane	3	11	1	.091	0	0
Chris Turner	4	9	0	.000	0	0
Joe Vitiello	3	7	1	.143	0	0
Héctor Ortiz	4	4	0	.000	0	0
Jed Hansen	4	3	0	.000	0	0
Dee Brown	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
Tim Belcher	34	234.0	14	14	4.27	130
Pat Rapp	32	188.1	12	13	5.30	132
José Rosado	38	174.2	8	11	4.69	135
Glendon Rusch	29	154.2	6	15	5.88	94
Brian Barber	8	42.0	2	4	6.00	24
Kevin Appier	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
Hipólito Pichardo	27	112.1	7	8	5.13	55
Chris Haney	33	97.1	6	6	7.03	51
Jamie Walker	6	17.1	0	1	9.87	15
Jeff Suppan	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
Jeff Montgomery	56	2	5	36	4.98	54
Scott Service	73	6	4	4	3.48	95
Matt Whisenant	70	2	1	2	4.90	45
Jim Pittsley	39	1	1	0	6.59	44
Brian Bevil	39	3	1	0	6.30	47
Ricky Bones	32	2	2	1	3.04	38
Bart Evans	8	0	0	0	3.00	7
Allen McDill	7	0	0	0	10.50	3
Danny Rios	5	0	1	0	6.14	6
Tim Byrdak	3	0	0	0	5.40	1
José Santiago	2	0	0	0	9.00	2
Shane Halter	1	0	0	0	0.00	0

Farm system

References

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

References

"Yamil Benitez Stats".
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/p/pendlte01.shtml Terry Pendleton Statistics] Baseball-Reference.com
[https://www.baseball-reference.com/s/smithle02.shtml Lee Smith Statistics] Baseball-Reference.com
"Ernie Young Stats".
(November 6, 1997). "Brewers switch leagues, join Reds in NL Central". [[E. W. Scripps Company]].
Pappas, Doug, [http://www.roadsidephotos.com/baseball/97-4news.htm "News Briefs: Fall 1997"] {{webarchive. link. (July 27, 2008 , ''Outside the Lines'', Fall 1997.)
"1998 Seattle Mariners Statistics".
Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., ''The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball'', 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007

Info: Wikipedia Source

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