the old minor league baseball team in kansas city had been called the blues. there was also a famous negro league baseball team called the kansas city monarchs. the royals name and their team color blue are at least partly in honor of those older teams. the kansas city royals first played in the world series where they lost to the philadelphia phillies. in 1985, they won their first championship, beating the st. louis cardinals in seven. the royals returned to the world series in 2014 but lost to the san francisco giants. however, they defeated the new york mets 4 games to 1 in 2015 to win their second championship.