The Kansas City Royals were in the race for an American League Wild Card berth this past season, setting the stage for a big step in 2014.
The Royals had a 44-32 record within the AL Central. They finished 10 games over .500. It has been been 28 years since they tasted the postseason.
Kansas City had the best ERA in the AL, along with a strong defense and speed on the bases.
"You break it down any way that you want, and it can get real complicated," Ned Yost said. "The thing that I always look at it is we've made tremendous progress as an organization. We've taken a huge step forward. We haven't taken a step forward, two steps back, we've taken a huge step forward."