Kansas City Royals: 5 things that need to happen to reach 2018 playoffs

Conventional wisdom tells you the Kansas City Royals have little chance of making the postseason in 2018. Here’s a look at how they can overcome the odds.

Baseball is a game that is played on the field. It isn’t played on paper or on a computer. Things happen that no one expects. It’s why the possibility of the Kansas City Royals making the playoffs next season isn’t the craziest idea you’ve ever heard. It’s just the most recent crazy thing.

To be clear, this is not a piece designed to convince you the Kansas City Royals will make the postseason. It’s a completely unlikely scenario, but there’s obviously a chance it could happen. Nobody had the Minnesota Twins reaching the 2017 playoffs. Yet, they qualified for the American League Wild Card Game and had a three-run lead on the Yankees before collapsing.

If that doesn’t convince you that anything is possible, take this other example from 2017. Had the game of baseball gone digital and results were determined by some algorithm, then there wouldn’t have been any reason to play the second half of the season. The Dodgers and Astros were so dominant in the first half that they seemed destined to reach the World Series. And you know what happened? … Wait, that probably isn’t the best example.

Fine, there’s probably no way to convince you the Kansas City Royals will make the playoffs after missing out the past two years. No worries, because the funny thing about sports that are played on the field. Each and every one of the things I list could happen, and the team still might miss the postseason. That’s baseball, and that’s why they play the games.