The Kansas City Royals went from 106-loss laughingstock in manager Matt Quatraro’s first season to 86 wins, a second-place finish in the AL Central and a wild-card series win over Baltimore last year.

The biggest reason for the abrupt turnaround, according to The Associated Press , was an almost entirely rebuilt starting rotation, which produced All-Stars in lefthander Cole Ragans and righthander Seth Lugo and dependability in righthanders Brady Singer and Michael Wacha.

Singer was traded to the Reds in the deal that landed on-base machine Jonathan India to play second base, but the rotation otherwise returns intact with lefthander Kris Bubic, righthander Michael Lorenzen and righthander Kyle Wright in the mix for the open job.

The Royals failed to land an offensive upgrade in the corner outfield spots, so they will hope incumbents produce more than last season. They can hardly expect more from Witt, who finished second to the Yankees’ Aaron Judge in AL MVP voting while also winning Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards during his All-Star season.

Since the Royals play in a comparatively weak division, they expect to be in the mix for their first title since 2015 when they went on to beat the Mets for the World Series title.

Their top hitters include Witt (MLB-best .332, 32 HRs, 109 RBIs, 31 SBs), first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino (.262, 19, 97), catcher/first baseman Salvador Perez (.271, 27, 104), India (.248, 15, 58), infielder/outfielder Michael Massey (.259, 14, 45) and infielder/outfielder Maikel Garcia (.231, 7, 58, 37 SBs).

Ragans (11-9, 3.14 ERA) tops a rotation that will include Lugo (16-9, 3.00 in MLB-best 33 starts), Wacha (13-8, 3.35), Lorenzen (2-0, 1.57), and Bubic (1-1, 2.67).

Rightanders Lucas Erceg (2-6, 3.36 ERA, 14 saves with Royals and Athletics), Carlos Estevez (4-5, 2.45, 26 saves with Angels and Phillies) and John Schreiber (4-3, 3.66) head up the bullpen.

Kansas City will open the season at home on Thursday, March 27, against the Cleveland Guardians. Game time at Kauffman Park is 4:10 p.m. EST.

Here are the sites where you can purchase tickets and the lowest price you can grab as of 2 p.m. EDT on March 22.