KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’ll once again be a Blue October in Kansas City, as the Royals will be playing in the postseason for the first time since 2015.
The Boys are playin' some October ball! pic.twitter.com/ghrM2oMecn
— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) September 28, 2024
Though Kansas City lost to the Atlanta Braves Friday, a Minnesota Twins loss to the Baltimore Orioles helped the Royals punch their ticket to the playoffs.
The Royals could face either Baltimore or the Houston Astros in a best-of-three series.
That depends on how the final games of the Royals and Detroit Tigers play out; Kansas City does have a tiebreaker over Detroit that impacts seeding.
Clinching a playoff berth marks a major turnaround for the team, who finished with a 56-106 record in the 2023 season.
After the 2023 season, Royals Executive Vice President and General Manager J.J. Picollo reflected on the tough season while also announcing the team would retain most of the coaching staff.
At the time, Picollo said that he had conversations with coaching staff, where they accepted responsibility and were all in agreement that improvements were needed.
"106 losses is a difficult thing to take," Picollo said last year. "There was a lot of challenges along the way. That’s not what our expectations are. Our expectations are much greater. We accept responsibility for that."
He also said players recognized the need for better performances on the diamond.
"Just talking to players at the end of the year, I think they're in agreement with us that their performance needs to be better," Picollo said last year. "There was a lot of growth on their end, they are getting better, they are maturing, but they know that the results have to be better as well."
The Royals made some key offseason acquisitions, including signing pitchers Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, which played a major factor in the turnaround.
The emergence of shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. as an MVP candidate has helped the team's performance as well.
He's set career highs across the board this year, including batting average (.332), home runs (32), and runs batted in (109).
The last time the Royals clinched a playoff berth was in 2015, the same year the team won its first World Series in 30 years.
The Royals will play in the wild card round of the MLB playoffs beginning on Tuesday.
The MLB has yet to release times for the opening round.
—
