Kansas City Royals Officially Eliminated from Playoff Contention

It’s been a long time coming, but the Kansas City Royals were officially eliminated from postseason contention on Tuesday night. Here’s how it happened, and what it means moving forward.

Well, it finally happened. The Kansas City Royals will not make the postseason in 2017. The end of a truly incredible era officially has a finite amount of time remaining.

The Kansas City Royals had seen their tragic number, as it were, steadily reduced over the weekend. Multiple losses to the White Sox—coupled with a string of Twins victories—had the Royals’ elimination number down to just two entering Monday.

A loss that day put the team on the brink of being eliminated from playoff contention. A 2-1 victory over Detroit on Tuesday night kept the Royals alive … for about 10 seconds. Moments after the victory, Minnesota finished off a come-from-behind win against Cleveland. That removed any possibility of Kansas City making the postseason.

What it Means

Even though it was a moment everyone, at some point, accepted would happen, that didn’t make the news any easier to handle. It led to a lot of reminiscing on Royals Twitter with fans sharing their favorite moments of the successful run. (Don’t worry, you’ll get to find out our favorite moments from the era soon enough.)

It was an especially cruel twist of fate for the Kansas City Royals to be eliminated from contention exactly three years after clinching the franchise’s first playoff berth in 29 years. But after nearly three decades of rarely sniffing the playoffs, it’s hard to complain about staying in the race until the final week of the season.

The Kansas City Royals not reaching the postseason likely won’t change much over the next five days. Fans should still expect to see plenty of at-bats for impending free agents Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas and Lorenzo Cain. However, there will be a lot of questions about the future of those players and a few about some other guys.

Frankly, those can wait. The final few home games should serve as a celebration of life for what this group accomplished for a woebegone franchise—not as a funeral service for the end of an era.

Next: Ranking the Best Royals Outfielders of All-Time

So let the sad tears flow now, and then head to Kauffman Stadium to shed some happy ones.