Royals Send Out Postseason Ticket Info, Odds Be Damned

Sep 8, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals first basemen Eric Hosmer (35) celebrates with teammates Billy Butler (16) and Alex Gordon (4) after hitting a three-run home run against the Detroit Tigers during the fifth inning at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Maybe the odds aren’t in their favor, but the Royals are at least proceeding with postseason ticket plans in the event that the team makes the playoffs.

Along with contacting season ticket holders, the Royals are giving priority for any postseason seats to fans who make a (non-refundable) deposit towards 2014 season tickets.

After a painful loss on Monday to Cleveland, the Royals are four games behind Tampa for the second wild card spot and have the Indians, Yankees, and Orioles ahead of them. A great many things would have to fall correctly for the Royals to get a one game opportunity anyway, and that one game would only be in Kansas City if Texas collapsed and Tampa Bay won the other wild card or if the Royals win their upcoming series against the Rangers and got in. If both Texas and Tampa Bay collapsed, the Royals would also hold a season series edge over Baltimore.

The Royals won just two of seven against the Yankees and are currently 5-9 against Cleveland and would have to win the remaining five games in the season series to hold an edge over them.

You can see how the second wild card has added intrigue to the season for teams that otherwise would have been out of it. Under the old playoff format in place up until 2011, the Royals would be 6.5 games behind Texas for a wild card spot with 18 games to go. They at least have some sort of hope for the second spot this season. The carryover to that is that teams can push out these sorts of announcements to build up next year’s ticket sales.

It feels so unusual to even have this topic come up. That’ll happen when it’s been 28 seasons since the team’s last playoff appearance.