Early in the season, I wrote a piece about the similarities between the World Series Champion Royals of 1985 and the current edition. At the time, the teams had similar records, and if you squinted hard enough, you could be led to believe the 2025 team was a reincarnation of the ’85 Champs. Each was led by a singular superstar – George Brett and Bobby Witt Jr.
Both teams’ pitching staffs were loaded with young, talented arms.
The weakness of both teams was their outfield play.
Since writing that piece,
the similarities between the teams have disappeared. Yes, Bobby Jr. is still a star and doing star things, but that’s about it.
The pitching staff of the 2025 team has been devastated by injuries to Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic, Hunter Harvey, Steven Cruz, and more recently Seth Lugo.
The 1985 crew sailed through the season injury-free with their top five starters (Charlie Leibrandt, Bret Saberhagen, Danny Jackson, Bud Black, and Mark Gubicza) making a combined 158 starts and throwing 1,064 innings. The 1985 staff finished with a 75-52 record, and that’ll never happen again, given the current usage of pitchers.
The 1985 staff was better, no question.
I do believe the 2025 bullpen is better, but that’s not much consolation. In 1985, Dan Quisenberry had his last great season before falling off the aging cliff. The rest of that pen was workmanlike. Guys like Joe Beckwith, Mike Jones, Mike LaCoss, and Mark Huismann soaked up most of the innings and did their jobs. The Royals did pick up Steve Farr in May after the Indians released him. The move was under the radar at the time but over the next five seasons, Farr would develop into one of the better bullpen arms in the American League. The Royals let him get away to the Yankees after the 1990 season, and he was even better with them. Another reason to hate on the Evil Empire.
The 2025 outfield play has improved in recent weeks, with the acquisitions of Mike Yastrzemski and Randall Grichuk, plus Kyle Isbel is on pace to have the best year of his career, but the 1985 team had Willie Wilson and Lonnie Smith plus a strong platoon rotation from Daryl Motley, Pat Sheridan, Dane Iorg, and Lynn Jones. Advantage 1985.
Both teams had slugging first basemen who had a couple of the best nicknames in baseball. The 1985 squad employed Steve “Bye Bye” Balboni, who gave them 36 home runs and 88 RBI. Much like his 2025 contemporary Vinnie “Pasquatch” Pasquantino, Balboni was fantastic at the plate in the second half capped off by a somewhat miraculous walk off home run on September 8 off Hall of Fame closer Rollie Fingers. The blast came with one out in the bottom of the eleventh with one aboard. Initially, it looked like the ball would tail foul down the left field line, but somehow the ball kept slicing the other way, which is unusual for a right-handed batter. The baseball gods smiled on that ball as it sliced fair into the general admission seats in left. I’ve hit thousands of golf balls that did the same thing. After the victory, which gave the Royals a one-and-a-half-game lead in the West, Balboni said, “I thought it was foul. That’s why I just stood there. It was real foul when I hit it. I’ve never seen a ball come back like that.”
Vinnie has been lava hot in the second half of the season. Vinnie is already at 29 home runs and 99 RBI, and I hate to think about where this team would be without his bat.
Also, a tip of the cap to Maikel Garcia, who has been terrific all season, both in the field and at the plate. Much like Vinnie, I’d hate to think of where we’d be without him.
On the bench, the 2025 Royals have been a dumpster fire. The trade deadline pickup of Adam Frazier has been the only saving grace for that department. The 1985 team was very fortunate with its bench play. The raw numbers don’t look that great, but the 1985 gang played their best when it mattered. When George Brett went down with an injury, veteran Greg Pryor stepped in and delivered several key hits. Same with Lynn Jones, Jorge Orta, John Wathan, and Dane Iorg.
A special shoutout for the 1985 team goes to Omar Moreno. Moreno had some good years for the Pirates in the mid to late 1970s and led the league in steals twice. After hitting just .197, the Yankees released him on August 16, and it looked like his career might be over. The Royals signed him on September 3, when Willie Wilson went down with a bad reaction to a penicillin shot. Moreno responded by hitting .500 in his first six games (9-for-18) with two home runs and eight RBI. His hot streak spurred the Royals to a six-game winning streak and nudged them to the top of the West Division race. Moreno was a bit of a lucky charm as the Royals won 11 of his first 13 games with the team. He eventually came back to earth, but it was fun while it lasted.
At the helm, the 1985 team had Dick Howser, who at the age of 49 was in his managerial prime. Howser was a master tactician, and his fiery personality was an added plus. The jury is still out on Matt Quartraro. He did a fantastic job in 2024, and I don’t feel it’s fair to judge him on the 2025 team due to the rash of injuries this team has had to play through. Yes, I’m well aware that his lineup juggling in the first half may have cost the team a win or two. Same with his early love affair with the bunt. Much like Ned Yost in 2013, it took Quatraro half of the season to figure out his best lineup. The sad fact is Q just didn’t have the horses in the outfield. In fact, there seems to be a drought of good outfielders in baseball right now. Several teams have one. A few have two. I can’t think of a single team that has three good outfielders. And to think Rob Manfred wants to dilute the talent pool even further by adding two more teams? Hard pass.
The injury bug has forced the 2025 team to scramble for players. That’s led to the ascension of Noah Cameron, who has been nothing short of fantastic and the trade acquisitions of Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek, as well as Yastrzemski, who I believe should be retained. We’ve seen the debuts of two very promising rookies, Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen. I like the looks of both players.
The ’85 champs won the Western Division with a record of 91-71. The 1985 Royals then benefited from the ALCS expanding from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven series. Had it still been a best-of-five, the World Series would have been Toronto against St. Louis. They were truly a team of destiny. They managed to avoid major injuries, their young pitchers got better as the season progressed, and Buddy Biancalana got hot in the World Series. What more could a fan ask for?
The 2025 team is not going to win 91 games. Going into the September 10th game, they sit at 73-72 with 17 remaining. A best-case scenario might be something like 10-7, which would put them at 83-79. That won’t be enough to squeak into the final wild card spot. Like any fan, I hope they go on a heater and make it to the playoffs. But the realist in me says they’ll miss the playoffs, not due to lack of effort. If they should fall short, it’s still been a fun season, and like any baseball fan, wait until next year.
