The Kansas City Royals have not been to the playoffs since 1985 when they won the World Series. It’s been 29 long years for Royals fans, until 2014. The Royals clinched a playoff birth in 2014 for the first time since the World Series win, have just punched their ticket back to the Fall Classic. The Royals have played eight games so far this postseason, defeating the A’s in the one game playoff, sweeping the Angels in three games, and then sweeping the Orioles in a best of seven series 4-0. The Royals have been the story of baseball for the last couple of weeks since getting their spot in the playoffs, and they don’t want it to end. They took down the teams with the two best records in the American League by sweeping them both, and they did it with defense and pitching. There’s a buzz in Kansas City right now, and the team is the story of all of baseball.
In the National League, there are two teams that have won the NLCS going back to 2010, alternating winners each year. Those two teams are, you guessed it, the two teams competing for the National League crown again this season, the Cardinals and the Giants. Whoever survives this series of the two most dominant National League teams in the past five years will have to play the story of the Kansas City Royals. Despite the fact that the Royals have won eight straight post-season games this year, and 11 straight post-season games dating back to the last time they were in the playoffs in 1985. The eight game winning streak is an MLB record. The Giants won the NLCS in 2010, Cardinals in 2011, Giants in 2012, Cardinals in 2013, and the Giants are currently leading the series in 2014 3-1, with their ace Madison Bumgarner on the mound for game 5.
