Back in March of 2011, Eric Hosmer and Sal Perez hadn't even played in Omaha yet, and we started a crazy little Royals podcast.

Through controversial trades, odd managerial moves, slumps, surges, winning streaks, and a couple of playoff appearances, we've been here to discuss it all, culminating in a World Series and the following rebuild.

This is our final episode. All things must end, and this seems the right time. With an ownership change ahead, a new manager, and a new wave of players in the pipeline, we're stepping away leaving behind 8 years and 9 seasons. It's been an absolute joy. We've always tried to do our show our way and the things we've been able to do and people we've been able to meet ... it's been crazy.

On behalf of our founder Troy Olsen, our incomparable host Jeff Herr, the kid in the back of the classroom throwing spitballs Chris Kamler, and myself: Thank you for listening. If you've been here since day one, my gosh, thanks for sticking with us. If you only just found us, I'm sorry for the rough timing...but we have plenty of past episodes online.

For this episode, we invited Troy and Chris back to join us and just sat down and talked about the experience, our memories, our favorite guests and moments, and just had a lot of fun hanging out. There's not much in the way of Royals news, but we had a lot of fun and I hope you give it a listen. (ALSO: Should warn you that there is some cursing, as we just kinda let it go for this one.)

If nothing else....here's the rundown of the episode if you want to bounce around:

Open: Mike McCartney, the voice of Kauffman Stadium, reads a soliloquy we handed him sometime in maybe 2012.
From there, it's the four of us talking about everything.
At 1:30:15, a compilation of the moments we've covered during the run of the show: "Everyone's an MVP to Someone"
1:35:30 - The Fake Ned Minute
1:41:25 - an old Kelly's ad: "Barhopping"
1:42:28 - another ad: "Spit Cup"
1:44:30 - Compilation: "Royals Are The Champions:
1:47:30 - Outtakes: "Kamler is summoned"
1:47:49 - Outtakes: "A Great Opportunity!"
1:48:15 - Outtakes: "Sponsorships"
1:49:50 - The best tribute to baseball I can imagine: A. Bartlett Giamatti reading "The Green Fields of the Mind"

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Thank you, and as always, go Royals.

-Michael Engel

Every season during spring training, we make some predictions. Some are good, some are bad. Sometimes we're way off. But we always go back and check how we did at the end of the year. This year is no different.

In this episode, we round third and head home as we wrap up our ninth Royals season of coverage. We have one more episode of reminiscing to do, so this is the last show where we provide share our thoughts about the 2019 Royals and what lies ahead for the team.

Next week, we'll welcome back Chris Kamler (The Fake Ned) and Troy Olsen (Royalman) to get the band back together one more time, share some stories, and make a lot of inside jokes. The shenanigans will be high. The insight... maybe not as much. But we hope you join us anyway.

It's been a joy to share our thoughts with you and we want to give our thanks to anyone out there who ever listened to us, downloaded a show, came out to an event, or ever sent us a message on Twitter or through email. This show has meant so much and for a bunch of talkers, it's ironically hard to find the right words to express our thanks.

And as always...go Royals.

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After much speculation, Ned Yost has announced that he's retiring at the end of the season.

He's been an interesting manager to follow...with some conflicting feelings. We discuss the dichotomy and Yost's legacy and impact on the current Royals, the past Royals, and most importantly, the champion Royals.

He will have a special place in Royals history after two pennants and the most wins in franchise history, but he wasn't always everyone's favorite.

We also brought up a few anniversaries occurring this week involving another retirement and some of the best Royals memories we have.

And to wrap up, we discussed revelations from Danny Duffy about anxiety, depression, and panic attacks as detailed in Sam McDowell's story in the Kansas City Star.

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This could be one of our weirder shows, in that we're talking about disappointment.

Before that part, though, we recap some of the milestones ahead, including Jorge Soler's incredible season, and Whit Merrifield's excellence at the plate.

But then, we got to talking about regrets. About disappointment. What were the disappointing storylines of the 2019 season? What would we have wished to see?

And then, in the wider view, in the nine seasons during which we've done this podcast, what are some of the things we wish we'd have witnessed? Who are the players we wanted to see more of? Who were the guys who didn't make it who we were really hoping to?

Hey, if you don't have expectations or hopes, you can't be disappointed, right?

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There are just a few weeks left in the season, and while the Royals won't be making the playoffs, there are still some storylines worth following as the year wraps up.

We discuss what we're watching the rest of the way - momentum, improvements, milestones, and moments we want to see as this Royals season comes to a close.

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Finally! Jorge Soler hit home runs 39 and 40 in the last week, surpassing Mike Moustakas in the Royals record books and giving the Royals their first 40 home run season.

If you've listened to our show for any length of time, you know that 40 homers was a milestone we were really rooting for, so with Jorge Soler's achievement, we had to celebrate a little bit.
We discussed Soler's health, power, his place in the Royals lineup and what this season means for the Royals future.

We also discussed the September roster, including Ryan McBroom, a hitter with a strong track record from the Yankees organization, and the return of Adalberto Mondesi from the injured list.

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This week, the bombshell news came out that David Glass is negotiating the sale of the Royals, with expectations that the process will be complete by November.

That's a franchise-altering story, and one that got us a bit excited. Glass is a lightning rod in Kansas City, but to his credit, he did evolve over the last 10 years or so. Still, it's a complicated legacy, and a new owner could be a very exciting development.

We also discussed a few roster moves and talked more about Jorge Soler, as we wait for him to reach 40 home runs for the first time in Royals history.

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Jorge Soler has had a huge second half, but in the last week, he hasn't had much of an opportunity to continue with it. Most of the lineup behind him has really struggled, and he's been stuck taking walks instead of hitting dingers. He's still on pace to break the Royals single-season home run record, but he's still got time.

We also talked about the Royals' starting pitching and depth. All year we've seen their starters cover a lot of innings, and with the addition of Mike Montgomery, they have a group that's at least intriguing going into the future. When you also look at the mix of strong pitching prospects in the Royals' farm system, they may have a lot of decisions to make with how to line up so many strong arms.

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So since our last show, Jorge Soler went on a little hot streak, good enough to earn him AL Player of the Week honors. He added six homers to his total, putting him in position to push for a team record, and an unprecedented 40 home runs.

We looked deeper at his season and particularly his past six weeks. He's finally looking like the player many expected when he signed with the Cubs, but he's done so by limiting strikeouts, walking more, and not sacrificing power. It's been impressive, and we're hoping it'll be record-setting.

We also talked about Whit Merrifield, Hunter Dozier, and some other milestones Royals hitters are approaching as the season marches on.

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With a quiet trade deadline (for the Royals) the main news this week was an injury to Danny Duffy that will sideline him for a week. We discussed how the Royals will fill his spot in the rotation and what they could or should do instead.

While we were talking injuries, we talked a bit about the latest on Adalberto Mondesi, who's still a couple of weeks away from returning from a shoulder injury. It'd be great to see him back on the field, but with the way the season is going, the Royals are exercising caution.

While we recorded, Jorge Soler hit his 30th and 31st home runs of the season, and we discussed the chances at the elusive 40 homer season from a Royal.

And finally, we recorded on August 6th, which is 16 years to the day since the Royals brought back Kevin Appier for a last-ditch playoff run in 2003. We shared some memories of Appier, that crazy 2003 season, and along the way, we were reminded of how baseball really creates some crazy memories and moments.

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The trade deadline came and went and while there were fireworks in other places, in Kansas City it passed without any action, save a Jake Diekman trade in the lead up to the deadline.

That means no Whit Merrifield trade, no Ian Kennedy deal. Not even Billy Hamilton. So we discussed some reasons the Royals have stated plus put our own interpretations into the mix. Without seeing the offers, it's hard to say it's a missed opportunity, but some fans are nonetheless disappointed.

After covering the Royals, we talked about the big moves in baseball and the value of going for it when the window is open.

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And remember to rate and subscribe on iTunes or any other podcast app you like.