For the Royals, aside from free agency, the biggest part of the offseason occurs on December 9, which is the penultimate day for the Winter Meetings in blustery Orlando. On that day, the league will hold its draft lottery. Since the Royals missed the playoffs this year, they’re right back in it.

Specifically, the Royals, who finished the season just above .500 at 82-80, have a 0.84% chance of landing the top pick, according to this article from Baseball America. Only two teams in the lottery have worse odds than the Royals, and they both finished with better records but still missed the playoffs—the Mets and Astros.

In its effort to deter tanking, MLB instituted some new rules a couple of years ago that prevent teams from continuously picking in the lottery based on different reasons. Fo

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