Photo by John Sleezer, KC Star
The Kansas City Royals – yes the same team that were consistent 100-game losers less than 10 years ago – are your World Series Champions.
In fact, in the past two years, they have won two American League Championships, their first-ever Central Division title, and a World Series title. They have also increased their win total in each of the past six years and set a new attendance record in 2015. Not to mention, seeing Jimmy Fallon and a rapping Bret Saberhagen, shooting paintballs at Jimmy Kimmel, and having Paul Rudd celebrate with them in the locker room. So yeah, things are pretty good for the Kansas City Royals and their fans.
In the midst of this upward trajectory, the Royals have done some incredible things on the biggest stages, namely in the playoffs.
As noted by The Kansas City Star, eight of their 11 playoff wins this year came after trailing in the sixth inning or later. Six of those comebacks have erased deficits of two runs or more. No team has ever done that, or had ever accomplished the following in the playoffs:
- They came from behind to win eight times
- They came back from multiple-run deficits seven times
- They scored 51 runs in the seventh inning or later
- They won three World Series games that they trailed in the eighth inning
“Of all the crazy Royals’ numbers, this might be the best,” EPSN baseball analyst Buster Olney pointed out. “KC scored 40 runs this postseason 8th inning/later; no other team had more than 5.”
While most teams were winding down, the Royals were just warming up.
Outside of the team stats, they also featured some individual notes with having the first Brazilian-born player to play in a World Series (Paulo Orlando), the first player to make their Major League debut in a World Series (Raul A. Mondesi), and the player who captured the record for the longest single postseason hitting streak in MLB history at 15 games (Alcides Escobar).
This was not only a memorable World Series win, but it was an especially historic one, for a team that had been historically bad. While the team has captivated and re-engaged a city starving for a championship from its football (it’s been 40 years) and baseball (it had been 30 years) teams, there were also some key communications takeaways that any team – or organization – can learn from as it builds a winning culture of its own:
1. Find What Works for You: The Royals developed a team and a way of playing baseball that best fit 1) what they could afford 2) what fit their players’ abilities and 3) what best fit their ballpark. The result were mid-market contracts that featured players with speed, athleticism, and defense that combined with starting pitching bolstered by the best bullpen in baseball.
For your organization, you may not have the biggest payroll or be in the biggest market, but focus on the strengths of your people and what you do really well. Who knows, how you do it may change the way the game is played…just like the Royals.
2. Trust Your People: Manager Ned Yost trusted his players and let them play without fear, such as Eric Hosmer’s daring dash home in Game 5. But the Royals also trusted the fans and their support, as highlighted with their “Thank You Kansas City” shirts and credit in celebration speeches during their championship rally.
Whether it be players on the field or people in your company’s positions, show them you believe and trust in them, and they’ll deliver the results you need…sometimes even ones you never saw coming, like an improbable slide across home plate.
3. Never Give Up: The records I list above are all the evidence we need that this team never quit and always believed they would find a way to win. In a game known for its numbers, the Royals showed all it takes is a belief in oneself and one team to suddenly tip the odds in your favor.
Personally I’ve been in situations where on paper, there was seemingly no way to accomplish a project in a timeframe provided. For example, I learned of a myriad of projects that needed to be completed – including some that had never been done by the company before – as it prepared to go public in just 13 days. Guess what? We made it happen. Not because we thought it was impossible – okay, maybe a little bit – but because we rallied to the challenge and believed in ourselves to get it done.
This Kansas City Royals team will be remembered for many things: the way they played, the connection with their city, and the way they always found a way to win. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons they captivated their audiences was simple: by doing those three things above, they were just like us.
Lessons From Left Field 