June 18th, 2018. That was my first post about the Kansas City Royals on The Royals Reporter, which initially ran on Medium and later moved to WordPress.
The post was titled “Who Should I Give a Crap About on This Royals Team?” Here is the first paragraph from that debut piece.
“At 22–49, the Kansas City Royals have the second-worst record in all of baseball (only the Orioles are worse at 20–50; at least they have the excuse that they play in the same division as the Yankees and Red Sox). For Royals fans who followed this team pre-2013, it seems like it’s back to half-empty stadiums, bad jokes, and constant L’s both at Kauffman and away. As someone who recently moved to Kansas City, and got caught up in the “Royals Fever” post 2013, it’s interesting to see the difference between who the true baseball fans are, and the ones who just jumped on the bandwagon because those teams during that three to four-year stretch were competitive (already those fans in the latter category are only talking about how good Patrick Mahomes is looking in training camp).”
Boy, look how big a paragraph that was. I was one jaded and disgruntled baseball fan. It’s pretty remarkable to think about how much this blog has changed over 8 years and 1,130 posts.
What started as a boutique blog project focused on Fantasy and Royals baseball topics became a full-fledged Royals blog that combined analytical analysis with a fan’s perspective. If anyone knows me personally, they know I have started and quit many different blog projects. I have had blogs for the San Francisco Giants, European basketball, and NBA/Hipster culture (yes, that was a phase in my life).
And yet, The Royals Reporter didn’t fizzle out like other blogs I created. It got me through the pandemic (notice how many posts I had when the world was shut down in 2020). It got me through some lean Royals years (who can forget the Mike Matheny era?). And it led to other opportunities, including writing gigs (for Pitcher List and Just Baseball), guest appearances on podcasts, and even a radio guest spot on KCUR.
I never would have thought that the Royals Reporter would evolve into what it is today. The Royals Reporter has helped me not only grow my love for baseball, but also for the Royals and for Kansas City as a city and community.
Okay, I feel like this is getting to be too long of an introduction, and I’m sounding a lot like Krusty the Clown in episode 15 of season nine of The Simpsons.
The reason for this post is that I am announcing that this is the last post on The Royals Reporter for the foreseeable future.
Now, does this mean I am going to stop writing about the Royals? Absolutely not. Instead, I am going to transition to a new site where I will primarily write: Royals Keep.
An announcement about the creation of Royals Keep was made this week on BlueSky, and our official launch date is Monday, November 3rd.
Royals Keep is the latest site to join the Diamondcetric network, which also includes MLB team sites like Twins Daily (Minnesota Twins), Brewer Fanatic (Milwaukee Brewers), North Side Baseball (Chicago Cubs), Fish on First (Miami Marlins), Talk Sox (Boston Red Sox), Jays Centre (Toronto Blue Jays), and Padres Mission (San Diego Padres). It’s fantastic for Royals fans to be part of this network, especially since the site offers many different resources, such as access to the active and 40-man roster, fan forums, and “Franchise Ball”, a free baseball simulation.
The great thing about Royals Keep is that I will be able to continue writing content similar to what you saw here at Royals Reporter. That is what made the difference for me in making this transition, as I have seen the excellent work that people have done at other Diamondcentric sites like Twins Daily, Brewer Fanatic, Fish on First, and Northside Baseball, to name a few (those are the four I follow pretty regularly). There is a network here of talented writers who are creative and passionate about baseball and their respective teams. I am honored and excited to be part of this team, covering the Royals.
Also, after eight years, I realized I had hit a wall with what I could do with this blog.
As much as I loved having my own site, the work of promoting and evolving it was simply too much for me to handle on my own. It is nice to have the support of the Diamondcentric team and to be part of a network that can provide things I couldn’t do on my own. I’ve already seen the tremendous benefit of being part of the Royals Keep and Diamondcentric team, and I’m beyond ecstatic about the opportunities ahead.
I will also continue writing for Pitcher List and Just Baseball, as well as maintaining my fantasy hockey newsletter, Goalie Streamer, during the fantasy hockey season. However, my primary Royals coverage will now be on Royals Keep rather than this blog, and I will make sure to update everything (especially Twitter and BlueSky) so that people who follow me and this blog are directed to Royals Keep.
For those who have followed this blog, thank you for the support. You will still get great, thorough content at Royals Keep, but you will also be exposed to more tools and other writers, making the site one of the best out there for Royals fan content. There will be a lot of growth over the next few months, but I think Royals fans should be excited about the perspective Royals Keep will bring to the Royals content world.
It’s tough to see this blog end. This truly was a passion project of mine, and I am thankful to have been able to cover the Royals on this blog over the past eight years. I will keep the site and domain live so people can access all old posts and materials.
But now, goodbye Royals Reporter, and hello Royals Keep. Look forward to seeing you there soon.