Following the Royals’ final regular-season game, a 4-2 road win over the Atlanta Braves, Quatraro praised his team for their hard work and how deserving they are of making the playoffs.

“They deserve, the way this year’s gone, to go out with a win for the regular season and close that chapter of it. But now, we start a brand new season,” Quatraro said, adding that winning the final stretch of games was crucial.

Looking ahead to the series against the Orioles, which will begin in Baltimore, Quatraro acknowledged the quality of the opposition. He noted that while the location wasn’t a significant factor, his primary concern was ensuring that the families of Royals players could attend the games.

“Very unique. Truthfully, I didn’t care which place we went. We know we are going to face a very good team regardless, both present interesting challenges. But we’re rolling the dice for our guys. It’s more for our families and everyone who’s not here yet, meeting us—that was the uncertainty.”

Kansas City Royals in the 2024 MLB Season

The Royals had a solid start to the 2024 season, finishing March and April with an 18-13 record, followed by a strong May at 17-11. June was a tough month (12-15), but the team bounced back in July (13-10) and August (15-13). However, September ended on a down note at 11-14.

Despite the ups and downs, Quatraro successfully led the Royals back to the playoffs for the first time since 2015. They finished second in the AL Central, behind Cleveland and ahead of Detroit.

That’s why ownerSteve Cohen hasn’t taken a break over the last few months, as the Mets made a splash to land Max Scherzer in a historic deal, Starling Marte, Eduardo Escobar, and MarkCanha.

So, the next step is to fill the vacancy at the managerial position. While they wait for the MLB lockout to be over in order to make a few more moves to strengthen their roster, they have apparentlymade a final shortlist of three candidates for the manager job.

MLB Rumors: Three candidates make final cut for Metsmanagerposition

A number of candidates were thrownover the table but only three have reportedly made it to the next round of interviews. According to MLB.com‘s Anthony DiComo, theones who remain on pace to get the job are Buck Showalter, Matt Quatraro, and Joe Espada.

Showalter, 65, has the most experience from thislist of finalists, having served for more than 20 years in the league, boasting over1,500 victories and a number of postseason runs.

Quatraro, 48,has been the Tampa Bay Rays‘ bench coach since the 2019 season. Espada, 46, iscraving for his first opportunity as a manager afterworking for a number of teams in the league, servingas the Houston Astros‘ bench coach for the last four seasons.

Whoever gets selected will have a challenging task ahead of him. The Mets can’t wait to get back to MLB prominence and hopefully make a run to the World Series. Their latest signings are enough to explain how ambitious they are, so the one who takes over will have to deal with such expectations.