3 big stretch run questions for the KC Royals

After soundly beating Detroit 7-1 Thursday night, the KC Royals find themselves in a nice place. Now squarely in the postseason hunt instead of being on the outside looking in for too many seasons, Thursday's fourth straight victory boosted the Royals' record to 61-49, and with two months left in the regular season, they're just six games behind Cleveland in the American League Central. And if the campaign ended today, they'd own an AL Wild Card.

The club's reversal of fortune is at once startling and stunning, a turnaround of increasingly epic proportion. The work left to be done will be hard, but if done properly will give these refurbished Royals their first postseason action since they won the World Series in 2015.

Can they pull it off? Yes, especially if the answers to three big questions are positive. Let's see what they are.

Can Bobby Witt Jr. maintain his torrid pace?

The answer to this question is No, but it's a qualified No, a negative response with a positive flipside. Witt opened August Thursday by clubbing his 20th homer of the campaign with a double and two RBI thrown in for good measure. That in 23 July games he slashed .489/.520/.833, homered seven times, drove in 22 runs, and had a 170 wRC+ through Wednesday, means he'll be everyone's July player of the month.

That's a pace, though, that not even Witt can keep up for another two months. To maintain it asks and requires too much. But the bright news is this — Witt is so good (his .350 average leads the majors) that he'll continue, with a little help from Salvador Perez and perhaps another Royal or two, to carry KC offensively through their Sept. 29 regular-season finale at Atlanta.

Second question...