Yost says he knew all along that Royals would win 2015 World Series

By foxsports
Published

After coming agonizingly close in 2014, the Kansas City Royals broke through and won the World Series in 2015 - and none of it was a surprise to manager Ned Yost.

In fact, Yost is quoted by MLB.com's Jeffrey Flanagan as having absolute and certain confidence in his club from before the season began all the way to the final out of Game 5. That's...some impressive determination. 

So what about when the Houston Astros had the Royals on the ropes in the ALDS, potentially five outs away from being eliminated in Game 4? Yost knew that somehow his team would come back: 

"What I found out, in these situations, you can't control anything," Yost said. "You can't just say, 'Go get hits.' But you sit back and you trust your club. You have faith in your players that they're going to go out and give their best effort. And if their best effort is not good enough on that given day, you put your arms around them and thank them for it because that's all you can do.

"But there was no panic or fear [in Houston]. And all of sudden it was boom, boom, boom, and we got a bunch of hits. I don't think there was any doubt because we did it before in the [AL] Wild Card Game the year before. They knew they could [win] and they went out and did it again."

Downplaying a World Series victory is unusual, but then again Yost marches to the beat of his own drum, so to speak. Channeling the frustration of losing the '14 Series with the potential tying run at third base in Game 7 only fueled that desire - and expectation - more. 

Maybe this winter I'll sit back and realize it that hey, we won the World Series and it's very, very special. Don't get me wrong. It is special. It's just something that I knew in my heart we were going to do. I just knew it.

"I just knew it was a matter of time before we did it. I saw our players come into Spring Training with the same determined attitude and they were very convicted that this was going to be our year. So, for me, it was just like I had the answer beforehand. When they asked the question I had the answer.

Yost has a point, too. This past postseason, the Royals definitely looked like a club with a singular goal, the type of efficient unit that wouldn't let up until its players hoisted the trophy and celebrated...which is exactly what happened. 

Now that it's over, the Royals can relax a bit and then focus on 2016, though that's something that will require some big decisions to be made by GM Dayton Moore and the club.