The Royals are saying '1738' in interviews because they love Fetty Wap
Being a part of a winning baseball team can sometimes lead to some odd rituals. Joe Maddon has constantly resorted to weird gimmicks to keep his team loose, the Astros have employed a fog machine in the clubhouse and Chris Sale occasionally tries to sneak a word of the day into his interviews.
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The Royals are the latest team to adopt one of these routines. Players on the team are trying to work "1738" into all of their interviews.
KC players are fining each other if they don't use "1738" in postgame interviews. I have no idea what it means. Success has driven them mad.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) July 29, 2015
Players are fining each other for not working in the phrase, so you know this has become serious business.
So, why "1738?" Allow us to try and explain.
The number has to do with the song "Trap Queen" by Fetty Wap.
The number is mentioned right at the beginning of the song. Also, Fetty Wap refers to his crew as the Remy Boyz. Remy Martin 1738 is a brand of Cognac. On top of all of this, Lorenzo Cain uses the song "Trap Queen" as his current walkup music. Is it all coming together now? We hope so.
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OK, so now that you have an idea of why "1738" is so important to the Royals, let's take a look at how successful they've been implementing their new ritual.
Cain on Bauer: "He was like a 17-38 to the plate." Hosmer on his RBIs against Cleveland: "I'll take 17. I'll take 38."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) July 29, 2015
But wait, there's more.
Moustakas on Hosmer's pick: "Hoz picks that thing 17 out of 38 times."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) July 29, 2015
And finally.
Coming to a television near you: Lorenzo Cain saying, "You can name 17, 38 great plays we've made."
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughStar) July 29, 2015
There you have it. That's the thing the Royals are doing now. While we appreciate their commitment to the gig, it doesn't seem as creative as some of the other stuff we've seen recently.
At the same time, the Royals probably don't care what they think. Kansas City is the happening baseball place to be right now. The team is the current World Series favorite, they just picked up Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist and they've embraced the song of the summer.
This stunt might seem lame now, but just wait until Lorenzo Cain goes 17 of 38 during the team's World Series run. Then, we'll all know how foolish we were to ever criticize this ritual.
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Chris Cwik is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at christophercwik@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Chris_Cwik