What the Tigers can learn from the Royals

1:04 PM ET

KANSAS CITY — When the Kansas City Royals defied the odds (and preseason projections) to make an inspired run to their first World Series title in thirty years this past November, the baseball world took notice.

Here was a club without an exorbitant payroll, an excess of star power, or a storied pedigree. The Royals relied on the fundamentals — and resilience, teamwork and an irrefutable relentlessness — to bring a championship to their city.

This felt like a special team, one that had grown up together and plugged away while bucking convention — a sort of throwback amidst the current landscape of bloated contracts and ever-changing personnel.

Naturally, when any team has success, it makes other clubs take inventory— of their own farm systems, their own organizational philosophies and their own blueprints for the future.

The Tigers could learn from the way the Royals maintain discipline at the plate. AP Photo/Alan Diaz

Is it possible that other teams, including the Detroit Tigers, have taken into account what the Royals did to achieve their goal in 2015, only to incorporate that into their own plans? Is there anything to learn from how they won?

One area is already having a clear impact on the rest of the league, as evidenced by the spending this offseason. Whereas many teams previously chose to plunk down cash in starting pitching as a priority, the Royals are a team that is built from the bullpen out.

The Royals’ bullpen had the best ERA in the AL at 2.72 (second-best in the majors) last season and allowed the lowest opponents’ batting average and OPS in baseball. Wade Davis has been the backbone of that group. The 30-year-old has been arguably the most reliable closer in baseball the past two seasons and, according to ESPN Stats and Info, Davis’ 0.97 ERA is nearly a half run lower than the next-best reliever (Dellin Betances, 1.45) of the 101 relievers to throw 100 innings over that span.

What was perhaps the most robust market in free agency this winter? The market for relievers, and the Tigers were major players to that end.

General Manager Al Avila promised to get serious about bolstering the Tigers’ bullpen and he did just that – trading for closer Francisco Rodriguez and Justin Wilson, and adding fellow set-up man Mark Lowe in free agency. Previously, the Tigers’ bullpen has been a source of great anxiety, but especially now – with both Blaine Hardy and Alex Wilson back – there is a new sense of depth of competition within its ranks.

What else stands out most about the Royals as they attempt to become the first team to repeat since the …

continue reading in source espn.go.com