AL Wild Card Standings: Royals' postseason hopes seem nothing but a pipe dream now

It was only ahead of last Sunday's series finale against the Minnesota Twins that the Kansas City Royals sat within shouting distance of the final AL Wild Card spot, just a single game behind the Seattle Mariners.

But the Royals proved that a week and bit can change everything, as while nearly everyone in the Wild Card field got hot, the Royals dropped both of their series, going 2-5.

This now places them 6.5 games back from the Houston Astros for that elusive sixth and final postseason spot in the American League.

While mathematically the Royals still have a shot, it seems like only a miracle could save them now. However, since there's still a shot, and some interesting wrinkles this week could increase their standing heading into the weekend, let's dive in to what the Wild Card picture looks like before the Royals return to Kauffman Stadium to take on the Mariners in a midweek three-game series.

Royals once key midweek series now seems to have far less postseason ramifications

As mentioned earlier, the Royals are playing a team that they recently were in an all out sprint to catch in the standings, as Seattle comes to Kansas City on Tuesday.

Now, circumstances have changed, as the Wild Card field is chasing the Astros with the Mariners now on top of the AL West by half a game.

That being said, the Royals could still make things interesting heading into the final nine games of the season on Friday.

This series against the Mariners was once poised to have far more postseason ramifications when Kansas City was much closer to Seattle in the standings. But that was before the Royals aforementioned cold stretch as well as before the Mariners rifled off a nine-game winning streak.

Still, if the Royals can find a way to sweep the Mariners, they could perhaps bring themselves closer to the Wild Card spots again by bringing Seattle back down towards them.

That being said, they aren't currently chasing the Mariners at the moment, as there are three separate teams ahead of them for that sixth postseason spot.

The Astros will continue their midweek three game set against another Wild Card rival in the Texas Rangers after beating them in the first game of the three-game set on Monday.

Then there's the Guardians, who embark on a three-game road series in Detroit against the AL Central leading Tigers.

There's potential for the Royals to narrow their rather cavernous Wild Card gap this week, but at the very least they could play spoiler to a few teams looking to establish themselves in the October picture.