Royals Season Preview 1: The House That Dewey Built

Damon Hollins just hit a two-run homer to tie the game at five, and I can't help but notice all the Royals fans in Surprise Stadium. I'm not being sarcastic here. The White Sox -- who held a 5-1 lead at one point during this game -- may have more recently won a World Series, but there are at least as many fans wearing Royal blue as Sox black. This is a good sign. Lest we forget, the Royals have a proud tradition -- from 1975, when Whitey Herzog took over for Jack McKeon, to 1989, KC suffered just three losing seasons, and one of those came in a division-winning shortened season -- and all those fans in hibernation this past decade may be waking to find the organization on the cusp of a return to glory days.

On that note of optimism, we begin the Royals Season Previews series with The House That Dewey Built, a Red Sox blog that's so much more.

Last year those guys predicted a three-game improvement for the Royals from 2006 (they beat that projection by four games). This year: "The Royals are going to surprise. Maybe not .500, but they’ll get to 75 wins, a six game improvement from 2007."

Better yet:

Predictions:
Indians 100-62
Tigers 85-77
Royals 75-87
White Sox 74-88
Twins 68-94

That’s right, the Royals will finish ahead of the White Sox. You read it here. Their young lineup will catalyze around Alex Gordon, while Ozzie Guillen will continue to raise the bar for crazy. The Indians will be nothing short of awesome, and the Tigers will disappoint.

I'm not sure about the Indians winning 100 behind two overworked starters or the Tigers failing to win 90, but there's not much else to disagree with.

If you're looking for disagreement from this blog... it'll come. I've only just begun collecting previews from around the country, but trust me: Oh it will come.

UPDATE: The Royals scored twice in the bottom of the 9th to win 7-6. Your walk-off hero: Mark Teahen. Other notables: Joey Gathright stole three bases and Joakim Soria picked up the win with a 1-2-3 top of the 9th (one strikeout). Hawk Harrelson is NOT happy.