KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A week ago, on the first day the Kansas City Royals returned from the All-Star break, manager Ned Yost sat in his office scrolling through videos on his iPad. The team’s beat writers had entered the room. The conversation was lacking except for Bubba Starling’s debut. So Yost pulled up a video of himself and his granddaughter riding on a tractor at his farm in Georgia.



That was, in part, what Yost did during the break. He rode tractors. His grandchildren fished on the dock. The time soothed the slog of the 162-game MLB season.



“It always helps a little bit,” Yost said of the break, “to kinda just reset and relax. You know, it just gets some energy back.”



In baseball, energy emerges most when you’re lifting the number in the left column (wins). And over the past week, the Royals have. They’re 6-1 since the break. Last weekend, they won two of three games against the Detroit Tigers. This...