Fighting Royals Turning Heel from America's Darlings to MLB Bad Boys

Last October, the Kansas City Royals were baseball's Cinderella. A scant six months later, they appear to be auditioning for the role of Wicked Stepsister.

The latest salvo came Thursday night, when three Kansas City players were ejected during a rowdy, protracted brawl with the Chicago White Sox. That brought the number of Royals tossed over the team's last half-dozen contests to nine, as the Los Angeles Times' Bill Shaikin noted:

Thursday's donnybrook began in the bottom of the seventh, when White Sox center fielder Adam Eaton hit an inning-ending comebacker to Royals starter Yordano Ventura. Ventura yelled an easy-to-lip-read obscenity at Eaton before throwing the ball to first. Eaton reacted, the benches and dugouts cleared, and soon fists and bodies were flying. 

When calmer heads finally prevailed, Ventura was sent packing along with Kansas City outfielder Lorenzo Cain and pitcher Edinson Volquez, plus Chicago hurlers Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija.

Earlier in the game, Ventura hit White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu with a pitch, and later Sale beaned Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas. 

Oh, and by the way, the Royals ultimately prevailed, 3-2 in 13 innings.

The bad blood between Chicago and K.C.—American League Central rivals who will see plenty more of each other—began brewing on the first weekend of the season when six players were hit by pitches during a three-game set, as Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times notes. 

The White Sox, though, are far from the only club to feel the Royals' new-found wrath.

There's also no love lost between Kansas City and the Oakland A's, particularly Athletics third baseman Brett Lawrie. After Lawrie put a takeout slide on Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar, he was plunked by Ventura and had his head buzzed by a 100 mph fastball from Royals reliever Kelvin Herrera.

Herrera was suspended for five games and Ventura was slapped with a fine, per MLB.com.

On April 12, Ventura was in the middle of another benches-clearing brouhaha in Southern California that involved a staredown at home plate with Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout, who has at least 50 pounds on the slender right-hander. 

You can nitpick the details of each incident and assign blame accordingly, but here's what's undeniable: Kansas City is the common denominator. Everywhere they go, there they are. And they're always, apparently, ready to rumble.

Ventura showed flashes of his testy self in the 2014 World Series, when he gave the stank-eye to then-San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who fired back with a pretty awesome rejoinder, per CSN Bay Area's Alex Pavlovic:

Still, this is quite an image reversal from a year ago, as ESPN's David Schoenfield points out:

Playing with a chip on your shoulder and refusing to back down is one thing, but Kansas City is treading into murkier territory, testing the line between tough and plain dirty.

"A lot of other teams have noticed the way they've been playing," Lawrie said after his Royals dust-up, per The Kansas City Star's Andy McCullough. "This is some tired stuff that's been going on; a lot of people around the league are watching the style of play that’s been going on."

So far, the bad-boy behavior hasn't impacted the Royals in the standings; after Thursday's win they sit atop the division at 12-4.

Eventually, though, you've got to figure this will become a distraction, if it hasn't already.

At the very least, Kansas City has put itself in the league's crosshairs, meaning future penalties could be swift and harsh. And the Royals can't afford to lose key contributors like Herrera and Ventura if they hope to defend their American League crown.

For now, the best idea is probably to take a deep breath and follow the sage advice skipper Ned Yost dispensed on Opening Day, per USA Today's Paul White, "Let's calm down, it's a long year."