After ugly sweep, KC Royals are done with the American League...for now

When the KC Royals meet San Francisco for the first of their final three home games of the regular season Friday night at Kauffman Stadium, exactly one month will have passed since we wrote here about the club's then-soon-to-begin series with Philadelphia. That series would launch a tough 20-game Royals stretch against contending teams before the club turned to 15 season-concluding contests with an assortment of lesser clubs, only two of whom — Atlanta and San Francisco — boasted winning records, while Pittsburgh, Washington, and Detroit did not.

The implication was clear. Survive those first 20 games without serious damage, and things could be easier for the Royals as they navigated the final two weeks of the season.

Kansas City won nine of those critically important first 20 games, then took two of three from Pittsburgh last weekend to remain in excellent position to seize their first postseason berth since 2015.

But then came Monday when Detroit, five games below .500 and off baseball's playoff radar at the July trade deadline, but surging since, stormed into Kansas City. The determined Tigers took no guff from the Royals, beat them Monday and Tuesday, then again Wednesday night when they knocked around KC starter Alec Marsh for four runs in 2.2 innings and won 4-2, and left town with a sweep and flashy 28-16 record since the deal deadline passed.

What that three-game embarrassment means for the Royals is this: Detroit is now only two games behind them in the increasingly hot race for the second American League Wild Card. Minnesota is 1.5 games behind Kansas City and a half-game up on the Tigers. And KC's once realistic shot at overtaking first-place Cleveland is gone — the Guardians lead the second-place Royals by six games, a gap the club simply isn't going to overcome in the nine games it has left.

And now, the Royals will have to protect their slim Wild Card lead against unfamiliar competition.

The KC Royals are finished with AL clubs ... at least for now

Kansas City will play its nine remaining games against National League teams they haven't seen this season; not until the playoffs — if they get there — will the Royals see an AL club.

It all begins Friday night when Michael Wacha, one of the key players Royals general manager J.J. Picollo acquired during his masterful winter retooling of the miserable club that lost 106 games last season (it remains to be seen whether Wacha will be back next year), takes the mound against San Francisco to begin the end of Kansas City's regular season home schedule. Game time is set for 7:10 p.m. CDT at The K. The clubs play Saturday evening at 6:10 p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 1:10 p.m.

San Francisco is in fourth place in the NL West and, 10 games behind for a Wild Card spot with 10 games left, remains in the playoff chase only in the strictest of mathematical senses. Absent a miracle, they won't be playing in October, and they could be officially eliminated today in Baltimore.

Kansas City then takes Monday off before opening a three-game set with the Nationals in Washington Tuesday night. The teams face off again Wednesday evening before finishing up with a Thursday afternoon contest.

The Nationals are out of the NL race. At 68-84, they're 16 games behind in the Wild Card chase with 10 games left.

Stiffer competition awaits the Royals in Atlanta, where they'll finish the regular campaign with evening games next Friday and Saturday and an afternoon contest Sunday. Going into this afternoon's contest at Cincinnati, the Braves trail both Arizona and the Mets by just two games for the final NL Wild Card spot.

So, the Royals' postseason fate could be decided next weekend in Atlanta against a National League club.

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