By Fred Liggett
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The Kansas City Royals yearlong celebration of the team’s 50th anniversary continued this week with a six-game home stand. All six games are against American League teams, Tampa Bay and New York.

The Royals began the home stand on Monday with a three-game series against Tampa Bay. Following a tough luck 2-1 loss on Monday night the Royals greeted the first 20,000 fans on Tuesday with the team’s latest “T-Shirt Tuesday” offering. The classic tee featured 50 faces of the top 50 Royals players of all time. The list was voted on by media members and fans during the off season. The Royals/Rays game that followed saw Royals pitcher Ian Kennedy get his 1,500th strikeout in his career. Another notable achievement was rookie Hunter Dozier with his first multi-hit game of his young career. The end of the game saw another one run Royals loss, this time it was 6-5. The Rays swept the series after taking Wednesday’s matinee 5-3.

The Royals have plenty more promotions and baseball to offer their fans over the weekend. The three-game series against the New York Yankees will begin Friday night with Yankees hurler CC Sabathia on the mound who is undefeated so far in 2018. The Royals counter with Jakob Junis who leads the team with four wins. Saturday night is “Legends Night” when a number of ex-Royals such as Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye and Johnny Damon will be available to meet fans. The first 20,000 fans will get a Pine Tar Incident Figurine as a tribute to a 1983 Royals/Yankees game. Then Sunday the series and home stand will end with 20,000 fans getting a Lou Piniella Jersey, a throwback to his rookie campaign in 1969. The Royals are currently in fourth place just ahead of the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central Division.