NEW YORK — It’s so quiet in the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday morning that when Royals left-hander Danny Duffy arrives, he asks if he is the first player there. He is not. A few early risers are working out, watching video, otherwise preparing for the finale of a three-game series. Duffy settles into his locker, and quietly starts changing out of his suit and into baseball clothes.
When there’s a day game after a night game, the clubhouse is generally a pretty quiet place, so this scene is hardly unusual. A few minutes later, everything is different. The defending American League champions’ team bus has gotten to the Bronx, and into the locker room comes a boisterous group, full of chatter.
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The Royals are on a three-game losing streak, their worst of the season. Never mind that, because this is a new day, another chance to win and being able to stay loose is an important part of surviving the grind of a Major League Baseball season. Three or four times, center fielder Lorenzo Cain starts singing, for no discernible reason and at a volume level usually reserved for the fifth margarita at the karaoke portion of the five-year sorority reunion, “PEOPLE FALL IN LOVE IN MYSTEEEEEEEERIOUS WAYS!” Ed Sheeran will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
Drew Butera has been the Royals’ backup catcher for three weeks, having come to Kansas City in a trade that sent Ryan Jackson to the Angels. He also has played for the Twins and Dodgers, and has noticed that the Royals are different from other clubs.
“It’s a fun and exciting team,” Butera says. “We come to play and come to win, every day. We want to win every single game, and that’s what I admired when I played against them. I’m really enjoying it now, being a part of it. We want to win every game. We don’t go out there like, ‘OK, let’s win the series.’ We really come to win every game.”
Wait a minute. That sounds a lot like what 29 other teams would say about themselves.
“There’s teams that, they want to win, obviously, but there’s an attitude and a mindset,” Butera says. “You want to win, but we believe we can win every game. We’ve got a really good staff and really good bullpen, so every game, even if we’re down a run or two, we believe we can win that game. Every team has their own style. We’re not afraid to be aggressive, and we play hard and have fun.”
“Aggressive” is the same word that Cain uses to describe Kansas City’s style.
“Very aggressive,” he says between singing the Sheeran line and chattering at locker neighbor Jarrod Dyson and any other teammates who pass by. “All out. Guys want to be playmakers each and every day, and do what it takes to win ballgames. … One thing about this clubhouse, it’s a very laid-back clubhouse. Everyone gets along. We have a good time. That’s one thing that makes coming to work a lot easier, is when you have teammates that like to have fun and be loose, each and every day. That definitely helps.”
It also helps that Cain, last year’s ALCS MVP, is hitting .298/.347/.416 to show that last year’s .301/.339/.412 line was not a fluke. The addition of Kendrys Morales as a free agent also has paid big dividends, as the designated hitter leads the American League in RBIs, rediscovering the form that made him an MVP candidate in 2009, before he lost more than half of 2010 and all of 2011 to injury. Third baseman Mike Moustakas’ playoff performance appears to have been a turning point in his career. Last October may have been a turning point all around, showing how high the ceiling could be.
“We showed it in the playoffs,” Cain says. “We played our tails off, and that’s what we’re doing now. We know what we’re capable of doing, and it’s just about going out and doing it each and every day. … You try not to tense up and hit the panic button regardless of any situations (like the current three-game slide). This game, it’s a very long season. We understand that we’re not going to win all the games. You’ve just got to stay relaxed, regardless of what’s going on, because once you start tensing up and pushing the panic buttons, things start going downhill.”
The Royals play in the best division in baseball, which further ensures that there will be struggles. Staying loose is a big part of that. So is being self-assured.
“It’s just our personality,” says All-Star left fielder Alex Gordon. “We’re gonna play and I don’t think we’re gonna change anything. We’ve got pretty much the same guys, with some good additions who have helped us out. We’re just sticking with what we think is best for this team.”