AJ Smith-Shawver was rolling right along when he realized his Atlanta Braves teammates were beginning to avoid him.

For the second straight Major League Baseball offseason, a norm-shattering contract has been the talk of the winter, with Juan Soto agreeing with the New York Mets on a $765 million, 15-year deal that’s the richest in baseball history.

The Kansas City Royals have acquired second baseman Jonathan India from the Cincinnati Reds, adding a dependable leadoff hitter and middle infielder to play alongside star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. As part of the deal, the Royals also acquired outfielder Joey Wiemer while sending right-hander Brady Singer to Cincinnati.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani is a finalist for his first National League MVP award after winning the AL honor twice, joined among the top three in NL voting by New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte.

San Francisco third baseman Matt Chapman won his fifth Gold Glove and Kansas City shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was among 14 first-time winners of baseball’s most famous fielding honor.

The Royals are looking forward to next season with a pronounced sense of optimism after going from a 106-loss trainwreck last year to the AL Division Series this year.

Gerrit Cole held the Kansas City Royals to a single run over seven innings Thursday night, sending the New York Yankees to a 3-1 victory that put them back to the American League Championship Series.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 in Game 3 of their AL Division Series at Kauffman Stadium.

Salvador Perez homered leading off the fourth inning to spark a four-run rally against Carlos Rodón, and the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Yankees 4-2 to even their AL Division Series at one game apiece.

The AL Central was overlooked to the point of mockery before opening day.

Patrick Mahomes and Bobby Witt Jr. grew up as the sons of big league ballplayers.

The Kansas City Royals endured two seven-game losing streaks in the final month of the season.

Bobby Witt Jr. beat out an infield single to drive in the go-ahead run and send the Kansas City Royals into an AL Division Series with a 2-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles for a two-game sweep of their Wild Card Series.

Bobby Witt Jr. hit an RBI single in his playoff debut to back Cole Ragans’ six sharp innings and help the Kansas City Royals return from a nine-year postseason absence with a 1-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of their AL Wild Card Series.

Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani has put up some of the best regular season numbers in baseball history over the past six months.

Luis Arraez held off Shohei Ohtani’s bid to win the National League Triple Crown and was set to become the first player since the 1800s to earn batting titles with three teams.

The Kansas City Royals have completed one of the most remarkable turnarounds in major league history, clinching an AL wild card despite a 3-0 loss to the Atlanta Braves.

The Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr. became the first shortstop in major league history with multiple seasons of at least 30 homers and 30 steals when the All-Star swiped second base in the first inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Detroit Tigers.

Paul DeJong hit a two-run homer as the Kansas City Royals caught Cleveland atop the AL Central by beating the Guardians 6-1 in a game delayed more than two hours by rain.

Salvador Perez hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs as the Kansas City Royals completed a doubleheader sweep of Cleveland, beating the Guardians 9-4 to pull within one game of first in the AL Central.

Royals catcher Salvador Perez spent part of his day off playing an impromptu game of Wiffle ball with a bunch of kids in Kansas City, Kansas.

Seth Lugo retired 14 straight batters in his first career complete game as the Kansas City Royals rallied past the Chicago White Sox for a 4-1 win and series sweep.

The oddsmakers say Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani are the front-runners for baseball’s MVP awards.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández won the Home Run Derby when he beat local star Bobby Witt Jr. of the Kansas City Royals 14-13 in the final round.

Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson is projected to receive the largest amount from this season’s $50 million pre-arbitration bonus pool based on his regular-season statistics.

The Kansas City Royals took their lumps this past week against two of the best teams in baseball.

Shohei Ohtani had his second two-homer game this season, Tyler Glasnow pitched seven innings of three-hit ball and the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Kansas City Royals 3-0 Sunday as Mookie Betts left in the seventh inning after a pitch broke a bone in his left hand.

Shohei Ohtani won American League MVP honors unanimously twice in the past three years.

The Royals have officially signed 23-year-old shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. to his 11-year deal worth more than $288.7 million guaranteed.

Two people familiar with the agreement say the Kansas City Royals and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. have agreed to an 11-year contract worth more than $288.7 million guaranteed.

The Kansas City Royals have lost more than 100 games this year.

San Diego Padres pitcher Michael Wacha took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before Michael Massey of the Kansas City Royals lined a leadoff single.

Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez and Atlanta's Michael Harris II, a pair of 21-year-old center fielders, are baseball's Rookies of the Year.

The Kansas City Royals had qualified candidates to become their next manager already within the organization, including one hired by the Chicago White Sox just this week.

Brady Singer pitched out of a bases-loaded, nobody out jam in the third and finished with six strong innings to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 9-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Minnesota rookie Joe Ryan and reliever Jovani Moran combined to pitch no-hit ball until Bobby Witt Jr. doubled with one out in the ninth inning as the Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3.

Aaron Judge became the second-fastest player in major league history to reach 200 career home runs, and the New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 8-2.

Aaron Judge became the first big leaguer with 40 homers this season, smashed a grand slam for No. 41 and robbed a home run in right field as the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Kansas City Royals 11-5.

Aaron Judge hit his third walk-off homer this year, his major league-leading 39th home run of the season, to lift the New York Yankees over the Kansas City Royals 1-0.

Andrew Benintendi wouldn’t say whether he will get vaccinated for COVID-19 now that he’s with the first-place New York Yankees rather than the last-place Kansas City Royals.

Justin Verlander got his MLB-leading 11th win, Yordan Alvarez hit his 26th homer and the Houston Astros beat the Kansas City Royals 5-2 to take the series 3-1.

Shohei Ohtani hit two three-run homers and drove in a career-high eight runs, but Whit Merrifield led off the 11th inning with an RBI double in the Kansas City Royals’ 12-11 victory over the Los Angeles Angels.

MJ Melendez and Emmanuel Rivera drove in two runs apiece, leading Brady Singer and the Kansas City Royals over the Toronto Blue Jays 8-4 to end a three-game losing streak.

Bobby Witt Jr. began the season as a highly rated prospect and looks like he’s starting to heat up.

Bobby Witt Jr. hit his first major league home run, Brad Keller pitched shutout ball into the seventh inning and the Kansas City Royals beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 to end a four-game losing streak.

Aaron Judge returned from a scheduled day off to homer twice and drive in the tying run as the Yankees rallied past the Royals 6-4 for their ninth straight win.

Prized rookie Bobby Witt Jr. made an eye-popping play at third base to nail a runner at the plate in the top of the 10th inning, then Adalberto Mondesi’s RBI single in the bottom half lifted the Kansas City Royals over the Cleveland Guardians 1-0.

Bobby Witt Jr. capped his highly anticipated big league debut with his first hit, a go-ahead double with two outs in the eighth inning, sending the Kansas City Royals to a 3-1 victory over the rechristened Cleveland Guardians.

Cubs veteran Kyle Hendricks is set to deliver the first pitch of the season against Corbin Burnes and Milwaukee at Wrigley Field just past 2:20 p.m. EDT, the first of seven games still on the calendar amid rainy forecasts across the country.

Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman, Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and Detroit Tigers infielder Spencer Torkelson are among baseball's most intriguing rookies this summer.