Rany Jazayerli

The AL MVP race includes three players, not just two. My case for Bobby Witt Jr. as part of the conversation is posted FREE. Read, love, subscribe.

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In some ways that was the most impressive win of the season. Tied after 6, with Harvey, Erceg, and Estevez unavailable, Quatraro pushed the right buttons and Bobby's speed spooked the Twins into a 3-base error on a comebacker. The Twins are kicking themselves for losing this one. Those are the best.

Ok, they just put up the video...like his 464-footer, this one also came on an 0-2 count LOL.

And this one was off a lefty.

We may not be hyping him up enough.

This one went 468 feet.

Only longer homers by a Royal at Kauffman Stadium in the Statcast Era:

474 feet by Brandon Moss in 2017
469 feet by Kendrys Morales in 2015

I'm so old that I hear "Kamehameha" and I think of the first ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii, and the name of the high school in Honolulu that guys get drafted from occasionally. But I'm glad the Royals have young people on their social media team. This is cool.

464 feet.

In the entire Statcast era, you can count the number of times a Royal has hit a longer home run at Kauffman Stadium on one hand.

The punchline: it was ON AN 0-2 PITCH.

Someone tell my podcast partner that Lucas Erceg seems to be handling the transition from "closer" to "fireman" rather nicely.

I, for one, definitely did NOT spend the entire off-season advocating for the Royals to sign Jurickson Profar.

<deletes all back episodes of Kauffman Corner>

It's possible the Milwaukee Brewers are just bad.

But man, it's hard not to get a little excited about the Royals after what they've done this afternoon. Kris Bubic looked like he did in San Francisco 2 years ago. Maikel Garcia is slugging 1.000. I'll take "Things You Love To See" for $1,000, Ken.

Eid Mubarak, everyone! David Lesky is ably filling in for me on Kauffman Corner tonight, but I should be back next week to wildly overreact to the first ten days of the season.

Between Maikel tying the game with a home run and Daniel Lynch getting the win by retiring all six batters he faced, it was a good day for the two post-hype sleepers I am hoping will earn big roles for the team this year.

Hunter Renfroe went 0-for-4 on Opening Day, but if he had just performed the bare minimum on defense-not turning Kyle Manzardo's 2B into a 3B in the 4th-the Royals would have won. He should be a platoon player. So this lineup is heartening. The Royals are better with Garcia at 3B than Renfroe in RF.

I can't say I expected when spring training opened that Cavan Biggio would start at 1B today, but that's a temporary glitch. The roster got through ST with no major injuries. Bubic is in the rotation. The hard throwers in the bullpen appear healthy. The vibes are good. 88-74 is the prediction. LFG.

I have reservations about the liberal echo chamber that Bluesky is currently - and I say that as a professed liberal. (I might have more on that later.) But for now, it's Opening Day, and try as I might, I can't shut up forever. So let me try this place out.

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Oscar-winning Palestinian director is attacked by Jewish settlers and detained, activists say Activists say Israeli settlers beat up one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning film “No Other Land” in the occupied West Bank, and he was then detained by the Israeli military.

Israeli settlers beat up one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning film “No Other Land” in the occupied West Bank on Monday, and he was then detained by the Israeli military, activists on the scene said.

Kauffman Corner streaming in 15 minutes. @Jazayerli and I are discussing the Royals Opening Day Roster, plus...
- What Mark Canha brings to KC?
- Vinnie Pasquantino's hurt.
- Gone... Carlos Hernandez!
- Looking closely at KC's schedule.
- 2025 Bold & Daring Predictions!

Must read: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out for the first time since his arrest by the Trump administration in an exclusive letter, dictated over the phone to his family, from ICE detention in Louisiana.

The latest Kauffman Corner Pod.
@Jazayerli
and I make our predictions for the Royals '25 season and more...
- BWJ avoids serious injury.
- Gordon to Royals HOF!
- Breakout Player/Pitcher.
- Biggest Impact Rookie!

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Don't sleep on picking up a two-handed machine gun and just unloading it into a group of them. Also quite satisfying. (Not so much at the Vatican stage, but there will be opportunities later.)

Immigration agents arrest Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests A prominent Palestinian activist who helped lead last spring's protests at Columbia University has been arrested by federal immigration agents.

No matter where you stand on Israel and Gaza, it is flatly unAmerican to deport a law-abiding green card holder whose U.S. citizen wife is 8 months pregnant simply because he voiced a political opinion you dislike. apnews.com/article/colu...

I'm taking a little social media break, but I'm still talking about the Royals every week with Soren. At this rate Jac Caglianone will have me breaking my silence sooner rather than later.

‘No Other Land,’ whose politics deterred distributors, wins best documentary.

“No Other Land” won the Oscar for best documentary. The movie, directed by two Israelis and two Palestinians, chronicles the Israeli military’s efforts to demolish Palestinian homes in an area of the southern West Bank known as Masafer Yatta.

Click below for the latest Kauffman Corner with @Jazayerli and myself. We discuss...
- Who could KC still add?
- Biggest takeaways from AZ.
- How's the bench look?
- Who plays where?
- Biggest threat in AL Central?

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A blue graphic with stars and the moon in the background. Text on the graphic reads “Happy Ramadan Kansas City”

Ramadan Mubarak. 🌙

Liverpool is a lovely city, honestly nicer than I expected. But the Scouser accent is everything I've been led to believe and more - it's almost hilariously incomprehensible.

You: The NFL season is over. How am I supposed to watch a championship-caliber football team play on Sundays now?

Me:

Action-packed episode of IASICK this week, as @birdlawexpert.bsky.social and gave our game awards out for the Texans and Bills games, and then @jazayerli.bsky.social and I took a deeper dive into the Bills game. I also debuted my Super Bowl hype song, an Eminem parody called Without The Chiefs.

Click below to check out the latest Kauffman Corner. @Jazayerli and I welcome Paul Gibson, Royals Sr. Director of Pitching Development. We talk building velocity, switching from starter to reliever and much more!

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A Year of Empty Threats and a “Smokescreen” Policy: How the State Department Let Israel Get Away With Horrors in Gaza Israel has repeatedly crossed the Biden administration’s human rights red lines. But the U.S. continued to send weapons. Exclusive records and interviews reveal what happened inside the State Departme...

This reporting is so utterly damning.

www.propublica.org/article/bide...