1998 Kansas City Royals season

March 2026 November 2013 Kansas City Royals 1998 Kansas City Royals Insignia (1969–2001).svg American League Central Kauffman Stadium Kansas City, Missouri 72–89 (72 89) 3rd David Glass Herk Robinson Tony Muser KMBC-TVKCWBFox Sports Rocky Mountain(Paul Splittorff, Bob Davis) WKBZ(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.https://www.baseball-reference.com/b/benitya01.shtml Yamil Benitez Stats January 20, 1998: Terry Pendleton was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.Terry Pendleton Statistics Baseball-Reference.com January 20, 1998: Lee Smith signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.Lee Smith Statistics Baseball-Reference.com March 17, 1998: Ernie Young was purchased by the Kansas City Royals from the Oakland Athletics.https://www.baseball-reference.com/y/younger02.shtml Ernie Young Stats 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.http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1997/brew110697.html Brewers switch leagues, join Reds in NL Central The Kentucky Post (Associated Press) E. W. Scripps Company November 6, 1997 https://web.archive.org/web/20050505095313/http://www.cincypost.com/sports/1997/brew110697.html May 5, 2005 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.Pappas, Doug, "News Briefs: Fall 1997" https://web.archive.org/web/20080727032139/http://www.roadsidephotos.com/baseball/97-4news.htm July 27, 2008 , Outside the Lines, Fall 1997. Season standings Kansas City Royals Record vs. opponents KC Roster 1998 Kansas City Royals Roster Pitchers 17 Kevin Appier 44 Brian Barber 41 Tim Belcher 47 Brian Bevil 49 Ricky Bones 55 Tim Byrdak 45 Bart Evans 33 Chris Haney 55 Allen McDill 21 Jeff Montgomery 35 Hipólito Pichardo 34 Jim Pittsley 28 Pat Rapp 51 Danny Rios 50 José Rosado 53 Glendon Rusch 46 José Santiago 48 Scott Service 37 Jeff Suppan 57 Jamie Walker 56 Matt Whisenant Catchers 26 Sal Fasano 15 Mike Macfarlane 52 Héctor Ortiz 12 Tim Spehr 29 Mike Sweeney 15 Chris Turner Infielders 43 Carlos Febles  4 Shane Halter  2 Jed Hansen  7 Jeff King  8 Scott Leius 32 Mendy López 14 Félix Martínez 23 Hal Morris 30 José Offerman 16 Dean Palmer  6 Terry Pendleton  3 Luis Rivera Outfielders 46 Jermaine Allensworth 36 Carlos Beltrán 27 Dee Brown 19 Jeff Conine 18 Johnny Damon 24 Jermaine Dye 15 Jeremy Giambi 51 Chris Hatcher 31 Shane Mack 22 Larry Sutton 12 Ernie Young Other batters 27 Joe Vitiello Manager 40 Tony Muser Coaches 37 Rich Dauer (third base) 55 Guy Hansen 54 Bruce Kison 38 Tom Poquette  9 Jamie Quirk (bench) 20 Frank White 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 .4082 1B Jeff King 131 486 83 128 24 93 .263 .45110 2B José Offerman 158 607 102 191 7 66 .315 .43845 3B Dean Palmer 152 572 84 159 34 119 .278 .5108 SS Mendy López 74 206 18 50 1 15 .243 .3255 LF Jeff Conine 93 309 30 79 8 43 .256 .4173 CF Johnny Damon 161 642 104 178 18 66 .277 .43926 RF Larry Sutton 111 310 29 76 5 42 .245 .3523 DH Terry Pendleton 79 237 17 61 3 29 .257 .3381 https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/SEA/1998.shtml 1998 Seattle Mariners Statistics 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 Minor League Baseball AAA Omaha Royals Pacific Coast League Ron Johnson AA Wichita Wranglers Texas League John Mizerock A Wilmington Blue Rocks Carolina League Darrell Evans, Kevin Long and Brian Poldberg A Lansing Lugnuts Midwest League Bob Herold A-Short Season Spokane Indians Northwest League Jeff Garber Rookie GCL Royals Gulf Coast League Andre DavidJohnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007 References 1998 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Reference 1998 Kansas City Royals at Baseball Almanac Category:Kansas City Royals seasons Kansas Kansas City Royals