By Adam Gardner / March 2, 2026
A particular feeling of anticipation hits when the calendar rolls over to February.
Sure, we’re working our way through the worst of winter in the Midwest and if we squint we can see spring approaching down the road. It’s helpful that in my corner of Northeast Kansas winter has been pretty mild this year.
But even during years with routine snowfall that stays piled up in the corners of parking lots for weeks, maybe months, there’s something happening in February that helps break the ice off our minds and points us toward that welcoming light.
Pitchers and catchers report. Spring Training begins. The promise of a fresh baseball season is upon us and while we look ahead to what the new year might bring, we recall the fond memories of seasons past.
As a Royals fan, my mind goes to Bobby Witt Jr. making diving stops, incredible throws, and roping line drives into the gap and then burning up the basepaths. There’s Salvador Perez turning on a meaty fastball and starting his home run trot, or Cole Ragans gliding through 10 strikeouts.
And there are deeper memories of Lorenzo Cain, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Alex Gordon and more battling to back-to-back World Series appearances. Go even deeper and you find Zack Greinke, Mike Sweeney, Joe Randa, Kevin Appier and, of course, George Brett and the legends from the 70s and 80s.
But the memories include so much more than what’s happened on the field. So much of baseball and sports in general is the feeling of community it generates, the times you spend watching and talking about the game with your loved ones.
It’s been 10 years since the Kansas City Royals opened the 2016 season against the New York Mets, celebrating their World Series win over those same Mets just a few months prior. I wasn’t at that game – instead my oldest brother and sister-in-law hosted a tailgate watch party in their garage. About 15 of us gathered to share some ballpark food and beers, watch the championship celebration festivities, and talk about how great the gold letters and numbers looked on the Royals home white uniforms.
The Royals didn’t make it back to the postseason in that 2016 season, of course, and that core group’s last chance together fell short in 2017, too. Starting in 2018, we entered into a dark time reminiscent of the pre-2013 season.
Over 100 losses in 2018 and 2019, 8 games under .500 in the 60-game 2020 season, 88 losses in ’21, 97 losses in ’22, and then a franchise-worst 106 losses in 2023 (tied with 2005). It was hard to watch and it felt too familiar.
But with 2024 came a commitment to starting pitching and the national breakout of Witt which all added up to a postseason appearance and Wild Card Series win against the Baltimore Orioles. While the Royals missed the postseason last year, they still produced their first back-to-back winning seasons since those 2014-15 World Series seasons. Things are looking up and it’s a good time to be a Royals fan.
The Looping Liner
That’s who “The Looping Liner” is primarily for: fans of the Kansas City Royals. The majority of posts on this site are going to be focused on the Royals with stories published regularly on Mondays and Thursdays from Spring Training through the end of the Royals season.
My mission is to provide an informed fan’s perspective on the Royals. I like and reference stats when I’m following the Royals, and I’ll use them here. However, I’m not going to beat readers over the head with advanced analytics – not because they aren’t useful, but because I want the casual Royals fan to be able to comfortably follow along.
I’ll also reference past seasons and players as I’m reminded of different things that span multiple decades of following the Royals. They’ve always been my team, even if I casually flirted with the Florida Marlins in the late 90s, early 2000s. I make no apologies for my brief Marlins fandom – I was a teenager and feeling rebellious, they were new and had a fun color, and I watched them beat Cleveland and New York in the World Series. It never hurts to see Cleveland and New York lose.
I’ll also weave pop culture in here and there, although as a 42-year-old, I’ve realized I’m aging out of the “pop” portion of culture. There will be dad jokes and bad jokes, but hopefully bad in the sort of way that you still crack a smile. Baseball is entertainment and I want this site to reflect that – let’s have some fun talking about the Royals and whatever else might pop up.
Outside of the regular weekly publishing schedule of two Royals-focused posts, I’ll also publish thoughts on other random things. I consider myself a well-rounded sports fan and we’re in a ripe portion of the calendar at this time. The Olympics were great to follow, college basketball is heating up and the World Baseball Classic is right around the corner. Add in golf, especially the majors, and there is plenty to grab my attention.
Who I am
Sports have always been a big part of my life and I’ve managed to build a career around them, too. I was the sports editor for a newspaper for 4 years, focusing on high school sports and the local NAIA college. I left the paper for a position with that college, working in recreation services and sports information.
Through the course of a school year, I am involved in some combination of facility scheduling, stat keeping, posting social media graphics, writing postgame recaps, and interviewing players and coaches for 20 different teams. It’s a lot of fun following along with the sports I’ve known my whole life like baseball, football and basketball, while also getting to learn more about sports I wasn’t always familiar with, like volleyball, softball and lacrosse.
It’s been enlightening to have a close look at what goes into a team’s season: offseason training, locker room culture development, how personal lives for players and coaches can impact team dynamics. I’ll use that perspective to write about the Royals.
It’s easy to forget professional athletes are just regular humans who were able to develop incredible skills. They’ll have tough days, or weeks, or months. As a basketball coach I know says after his team had a tough offensive night, “We’re not trying to miss.” It’s a common-sense statement that sometimes needs repeating. Players try, but sometimes they fail.
Baseball might be the ultimate test of failure. If a golfer only hits 30% of greens, they aren’t making the PGA Tour. If a basketball player only makes 30% of their shots, they aren’t seeing the court. If a baseball player can get a hit 30% of the time, we’re talking about an elite hitter.
If you’re looking for someone to make big, sweeping declarations about who needs to be fired this week, it’s not me. If you want someone to get on social media and drag a player for an 0-for-12 stretch, it’s not me. I’m never going to be invited on one of those ESPN shows where the commentators try to come up with the wildest takes and then scream at each other from across the table to “win” the argument.
I will be critical when needed. These guys are making a lot of money to do something so many of us wish we could do, so they certainly aren’t above reproach. But I will try to exercise patience, even if a five-game losing streak makes me want to throw up or stare into the void.
I’ll also try to be reasonable when things are going well. A five-game winning streak in May isn’t cause for a parade. But aren’t those fun?
Speaking of fun, Spring Training games are officially underway. I was on the highway when the opener against the Texas Rangers started. It was great hearing Ryan Lefebvre’s voice again, it was great to hear the sounds of the ballpark, and it was awesome to hear the crack of the bat when Salvy destroyed a home run.
I can’t wait for more of those moments in the coming weeks as we build up to the start of the regular season on March 27 in Atlanta. This season promises to be an exciting one as the Royals try to make it back to the postseason. I can’t wait to follow along and I’m looking forward to all of you following along with me.
