# 2003 Kansas City Royals season

The 2003 Kansas City Royals season was the 35th season of the franchise, and their 31st season at Kauffman Stadium. It involved the Royals finishing third in the American League Central, with a record of 83 wins and 79 losses. It was the only winning season for the franchise between 1994 and 2013.
2003 was a hopeful and promising winning season ("We Believe" was the slogan) for the Royals, as they begin the season winning their first 9 games, and the team spent 93 days in first place in the AL Central. But the team faded down the stretch, falling out of first place for the last time on August 31, and were eliminated from playoff contention on September 23.

## Offseason

* October 15, 2002: AJ Hinch was released by the Kansas City Royals.
* December 18, 2002: Buddy Carlyle was signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals.

## Regular season
### Opening Day starters

* Michael Tucker – CF
* Joe Randa – 3B
* Mike Sweeney – 1B
* Raúl Ibañez – LF
* Brandon Berger – RF
* Ken Harvey – DH
* Ángel Berroa – SS
* Brent Mayne – C
* Carlos Febles – 2B

### Season standings

vteAL Central :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Minnesota Twins | 90 | 72 | .556 | — | 48‍–‍33 | 42‍–‍39 |
| Chicago White Sox | 86 | 76 | .531 | 4 | 51‍–‍30 | 35‍–‍46 |
| Kansas City Royals | 83 | 79 | .512 | 7 | 40‍–‍40 | 43‍–‍39 |
| Cleveland Indians | 68 | 94 | .420 | 22 | 38‍–‍43 | 30‍–‍51 |
| Detroit Tigers | 43 | 119 | .265 | 47 | 23‍–‍58 | 20‍–‍61 |

### Record vs. opponents

2003 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ANA | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TB | TEX | TOR | NL |
| Anaheim | — | 1–8 | 3–6 | 3–4 | 6–3 | 6–1 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 3–6 | 8–12 | 8–11 | 6–3 | 9–10 | 2–7 | 11–7 |
| Baltimore | 8–1 | — | 9–10 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 3–3 | 3–4 | 3–4 | 6–13–1 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 8–11 | 7–2 | 8–11 | 5–13 |
| Boston | 6–3 | 10–9 | — | 5–4 | 4–2 | 8–1 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 9–10 | 3–4 | 5–2 | 12–7 | 5–4 | 10–9 | 11–7 |
| Chicago | 4–3 | 4–2 | 4–5 | — | 11–8 | 11–8 | 11–8 | 9–10 | 4–2 | 4–5 | 2–7 | 3–3 | 3–4 | 6–3 | 10–8 |
| Cleveland | 3–6 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 8–11 | — | 12–7 | 6–13 | 9–10 | 2–5 | 3–6 | 3–6 | 5–2 | 4–5 | 2–4 | 6–12 |
| Detroit | 1–6 | 3–3 | 1–8 | 8–11 | 7–12 | — | 5–14 | 4–15 | 1–5 | 3–6 | 1–8 | 2–4 | 1–6 | 2–7 | 4–14 |
| Kansas City | 3–6 | 4–3 | 1–5 | 8–11 | 13–6 | 14–5 | — | 11–8 | 2–4 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 4–3 | 7–2 | 1–5 | 9–9 |
| Minnesota | 4–5 | 4–3 | 4–2 | 10–9 | 10–9 | 15–4 | 8–11 | — | 0–7 | 8–1 | 3–6 | 6–0 | 5–4 | 3–3 | 10–8 |
| New York | 6–3 | 13–6–1 | 10–9 | 2–4 | 5–2 | 5–1 | 4–2 | 7–0 | — | 3–6 | 5–4 | 14–5 | 4–5 | 10–9 | 13–5 |
| Oakland | 12–8 | 7–2 | 4–3 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 6–3 | 7–2 | 1–8 | 6–3 | — | 7–12 | 6–3 | 15–4 | 5–2 | 9–9 |
| Seattle | 11–8 | 5–4 | 2–5 | 7–2 | 6–3 | 8–1 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 4–5 | 12–7 | — | 4–5 | 10–10 | 3–4 | 10–8 |
| Tampa Bay | 3–6 | 11–8 | 7–12 | 3–3 | 2–5 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 0–6 | 5–14 | 3–6 | 5–4 | — | 3–6 | 11–8 | 3–15 |
| Texas | 10–9 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 4–3 | 5–4 | 6–1 | 2–7 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 4–15 | 10–10 | 6–3 | — | 5–4 | 4–14 |
| Toronto | 7–2 | 11–8 | 9–10 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 7–2 | 5–1 | 3–3 | 9–10 | 2–5 | 4–3 | 8–11 | 4–5 | — | 10–8 |

### Roster
## Player stats
### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Brent Mayne | 113 | 372 | 91 | .245 | 6 | 36 |
| 1B | Ken Harvey | 135 | 485 | 129 | .266 | 13 | 64 |
| 2B | Desi Relaford | 141 | 500 | 127 | .254 | 8 | 59 |
| SS | Ángel Berroa | 158 | 567 | 163 | .287 | 17 | 73 |
| 3B | Joe Randa | 131 | 502 | 146 | .291 | 16 | 72 |
| LF | Raúl Ibañez | 157 | 608 | 179 | .294 | 18 | 90 |
| CF | Carlos Beltrán | 141 | 521 | 160 | .307 | 26 | 100 |
| RF | Aaron Guiel | 99 | 354 | 98 | .277 | 15 | 52 |
| DH | Mike Sweeney | 108 | 392 | 115 | .293 | 16 | 83 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Michael Tucker | 104 | 389 | 102 | .262 | 13 | 55 |
| Carlos Febles | 74 | 196 | 46 | .235 | 0 | 11 |
| Mike Difelice | 62 | 189 | 48 | .254 | 3 | 25 |
| Dee Brown | 50 | 132 | 30 | .227 | 2 | 14 |
| Mendy López | 52 | 94 | 26 | .277 | 3 | 11 |
| Rondell White | 22 | 75 | 26 | .347 | 4 | 21 |
| Julius Matos | 28 | 57 | 15 | .263 | 2 | 7 |
| Brandon Berger | 13 | 32 | 7 | .219 | 0 | 3 |
| Brent Abernathy | 10 | 27 | 2 | .074 | 0 | 0 |
| Jarrod Patterson | 13 | 22 | 4 | .182 | 0 | 0 |
| Morgan Burkhart | 6 | 15 | 3 | .200 | 0 | 1 |
| Tom Prince | 8 | 8 | 2 | .250 | 0 | 1 |
| David DeJesus | 12 | 7 | 2 | .286 | 0 | 0 |
| Rontrez Johnson | 8 | 3 | 1 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Travis Dawkins | 3 | 2 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Darrell May | 35 | 210.0 | 10 | 8 | 3.77 | 115 |
| Chris George | 18 | 93.2 | 9 | 6 | 7.11 | 39 |
| Runelvys Hernández | 16 | 91.2 | 7 | 5 | 4.61 | 48 |
| Kyle Snyder | 15 | 85.1 | 1 | 6 | 5.17 | 39 |
| José Lima | 14 | 73.1 | 8 | 3 | 4.91 | 32 |
| Jimmy Gobble | 9 | 52.2 | 4 | 5 | 4.61 | 31 |
| Brian Anderson | 7 | 49.2 | 5 | 1 | 3.99 | 15 |
| Miguel Asencio | 8 | 48.1 | 2 | 1 | 5.21 | 27 |
| Paul Abbott | 10 | 47.2 | 1 | 2 | 5.29 | 32 |
| Jamey Wright | 4 | 25.1 | 1 | 2 | 4.26 | 19 |
| Kevin Appier | 4 | 19.0 | 1 | 2 | 4.26 | 5 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Jeremy Affeldt | 36 | 126.0 | 7 | 6 | 3.93 | 98 |
| Kris Wilson | 29 | 72.2 | 6 | 3 | 5.33 | 42 |
| Brad Voyles | 11 | 31.1 | 0 | 2 | 7.18 | 24 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Mike MacDougal | 68 | 3 | 5 | 27 | 4.08 | 57 |
| Jason Grimsley | 76 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 5.16 | 58 |
| D.J. Carrasco | 50 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4.82 | 57 |
| Sean Lowe | 28 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6.25 | 28 |
| Curt Leskanic | 27 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1.73 | 22 |
| Nate Field | 19 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4.15 | 19 |
| Al Levine | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2.53 | 5 |
| Graeme Lloyd | 16 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10.95 | 8 |
| Albie Lopez | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 12.71 | 15 |
| Jason Gilfillan | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7.71 | 12 |
| Ryan Bukvich | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9.58 | 8 |
| Les Walrond | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10.13 | 6 |
| Rick DeHart | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13.50 | 1 |
| Scott Mullen | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16.62 | 3 |
| Jeremy Hill | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Omaha Royals | Pacific Coast League | Mike Jirschele |
| AA | Wichita Wranglers | Texas League | Keith Bodie |
| A | Wilmington Blue Rocks | Carolina League | Billy Gardner Jr. |
| A | Burlington Bees | Midwest League | Joe Szekely |
| Rookie | AZL Royals Blue | Arizona League | Kevin Boles |
| Rookie | AZL Royals Gold | Arizona League | Lloyd Simmons |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: AZL Royals Blue