Playoff baseball is here!
For the first time in nine years, Kauffman Stadium will host a playoff game. The venerable Kansas City Royals home is one of the most iconic baseball venues in the country, having hosted multiple All-Star games and four separate World Series. It is instantly recognizable with its crown-shaped video board and multicolored fountains.
And when the playoffs come around, there is nothing like Kauffman Stadium. The atmosphere there is otherworldly. Kansas City sports fans are psychopathic in the best possible way, and when you add playoff baseball to the formula, well, you get something special.
Just a few anecdotes to back this up: first, Yahoo! Sports reported that ALDS playoff tickets were more expensive in Kansas City than they were in New York City, you know, one of the largest cities in the world. Second: during the Kansas City Chiefs game on Monday night, fans were bellowing chants of “Let’s Go Royals” after learning that the Royals beat the Yankees.
Loudest “Let’s Go Royals” of the night after KC got it done in the Bronx.
— Matt McMullen (@KCChiefs_Matt) October 8, 2024
Shoutout to my correspondent in the stands (my wife). pic.twitter.com/ijvF1aDAEm
Meanwhile, Royals players have mentioned an eagerness to go home to experience Kansas City playoff baseball because they had heard so much about it. The Royals are excited. They know. Bobby Witt Jr. said it best when he simply stated that “It’s going to be electric.” Yes, Bob, yes it will.
Still, people are sleeping on the Royals. Kauffman Stadium only ranked fifth in The Athletic’s list of the best playoff ballparks of 2024. And in The Ringer’s article titled “Extremely Accurate Predictions for the Rest of the 2024 MLB Playoffs,” the word “Royals” was mentioned twice. The Yankees? They mentioned that term 13 times.
This is to be expected to an extent. Kansas City lost 106 games last year and closed out this year with two seven-game losing streaks in the last month of play. The team’s position player group is stitched together with waiver wire pickups, one-year budget signees, and disappointing former top prospects. For much of the year, the bullpen was shaky at best.
But this team is arguably much better than that 86-win team on paper. In part, it’s because they finally have the full pitching package. Their playoff rotation is dominant and includes three of the top 10 American League pitchers by Fangraphs’ version of Wins Above Replacement. And that bullpen? Oh, it looks completely different. Luke Erceg and Kris Bubic weren’t on the team for half the year, and the two of them are absolutely nasty. You saw it in game two—by themselves, they are the seventh through ninth innings. Get through six with a lead, and the game is probably over.
Anything can happen in a short series. However, the Royals are almost purpose-built for a condensed, high-intensity series.
And intense it will be at Kauffman Stadium. I was fortunate enough to attend the 2014 Wild Card Game and one of the 2015 ALDS games. But this upcoming set against the Yankees is going to be crazy. This upcoming game three will be as close to the Wild Card Game as we can get. If the Royals win game three to set up a “win and you’re in the ALCS” game four? Oh man.
So, boo Jazz Chisholm like your life depends on it and get ready to make Bob Costas even more sad to be calling a game where the Yankees are under duress. It’s playoff time, baby. Let’s go Royals.
