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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Royals have set a pretty high bar for the 2023 season.

The Kansas City Royals have most of the same roster from 2022 but have been injected with new energy thanks to new manager Matt Quatraro and his staff. Quatraro was hired after the Royals parted ways with Mike Matheny after three seasons.

Many players have said that the staff is open with them and everyone has improved since last season and in spring training.

Second-year first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said that making the playoffs is one of the expectations for the Royals this season.

“That’s the goal every year,” Pasquantino said. “That’s why I play the game is to win.”

“The first thing you look at is win more games than you lose and then next step is get into that postseason.”

Barlow agrees that that is the new mindset for the team heading into Game 1.

“I love the mindset for sure,” Barlow said.

“That’s huge to want those expectations and want to exceed those expectations.”

The Royals have not made the playoffs since winning the 2015 World Series. Kansas City did win the most spring training games with 19 although that rarely translates to success.

KC is also coming off of a 65-97 season in 2022 but saw bright spots with their young players recently called up to the majors like Pasquantino, Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez and Michael Massey.

Their season begins with the Minnesota Twins on Thursday at 3:10.