Editing Kansas City Royals (section)

===2013: Return to Respectability===

On December 10, 2012, in an attempt to strengthen the pitching staff (which was among the worst in baseball in 2012), the Royals traded for [[Tampa Bay Rays|Rays]] pitchers [[James Shields (baseball)|James Shields]] and [[Wade Davis (baseball)|Wade Davis]], giving Tampa top prospects [[Wil Myers]], [[Jake Odorizzi]], [[Mike Montgomery (baseball)|Mike Montgomery]], and [[Patrick Leonard (baseball)|Patrick Leonard]] in return. This trade helped catalyze a return to winning records.

For most of the [[2013 Kansas City Royals season|2013 season]], the Royals hovered near .500. The team also did not commit an error in its first seven games (for {{fract|64|2|3}} innings) for the first time in team history. On September 22, the Royals won their 82nd game of the season to clinch the franchise's first winning season since 2003. The Royals finished the season 86–76 and in third place in the AL Central, securing the team's best winning percentage since 1994.