Patrick Mahomes still cheering on Royals in tough season: ‘You’ve got to get momentum’

A member of the Royals’ ownership group has liked what he’s seen from the club lately, even if he can’t attend the games in person.

“I watch them a lot, honestly,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said.

It’s an investment, but it’s also a labor of love for Mahomes, whose father, Pat Mahomes Sr., spent 12 seasons in the majors.

Mahomes said he was hopeful the Royals, last in the AL Central despite a recent uptick, would have been more competitive this season.

“Obviously it’s not the season we’ve wanted,” Mahomes said. ”I thought going into the season I didn’t know if we would be a playoff team, but I thought we’d have a chance to battle, maybe be around .500 because of the young talent. Luckily they’ve played better lately.

“You’ve got to get momentum going into next year. ... They’re doing stuff the right way, they just haven’t had the success they wanted to have. It seems like the Central is open for anybody to take their claim on it.”

Mahomes, who led the Chiefs to their second Super Bowl title in four years and was voted the league’s MVP for a second time, said he not only watches the Royals while at training camp at Missouri Western, which ends Thursday for the Chiefs, but stays in touch with players like Bobby Witt Jr. and MJ Melendez.

And he reveled in Royals’ recent seven-game winning streak, which helped them to a 10-7 stretch starting in late July, their best stretch of the season heading into Wednesday’s game against the Mariners.

“From like game two on during that streak, I was telling the guys (at camp) they were the hottest team in baseball,” Mahomes said. “I know our record’s not great, but (the Royals) were the hottest team.”

Mahomes, who joined the Chiefs in 2017 and bought a minority stake in the Royals in 2020, just missed the Royals championship seasons of 2014 and 2015. But he knows what it was like in Kansas City then from tight end Travis Kelce, who was in his first seasons with the Chiefs.

In 2014, the Chiefs scored a resounding home triumph over the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football, a game attended by several Royals players.

The next night, the Royals appeared in their first postseason contest in three decades and defeated the Oakland A’s in the Wild Card Game, the first victory on the way to a World Series appearance.

The next year, while the Royals were on their World Series championship run, the Chiefs finished the regular season with 10 straight victories.

“I’ve talked to Travis about 2015 when the Chiefs were rolling and the Royals were rolling and you’d have games on the same day,” Mahomes said. “It would be awesome for the city. You know how much they support the Chiefs. They’d be packing that stadium for the Royals, too.”

On the topic of stadiums — namely the Royals’ attempt to build a new venue — Mahomes said he’s followed it “a little bit.”

“I’m not as close to that,” Mahomes continued. “Whatever they do, it will be in the best interest of the Royals and Kansas City in general.”