If you are anything like me, and if you are taking the time to read this opinion-oriented piece I most certainly hope that is the case, then the Kansas City Royals have also put you in a position of concern following a season that has seen them compete all the way into September.  Yes ladies and gentlemen you read it right, September!

Concern in the sense that as we must be in the twilight zone or in some form of deep sleep coma.  Yet, no matter how much I pinch myself as I use the “interweb” to view the wildcard standings I still read a word that seems so unimaginable, Royals.  

Now for those of you with a fully functioning professional baseball team let me take a moment to explain to you why this particular instance may by all accounts be the most shocking thing that has ever happened in my lifetime.

Firstly, we that reside in the Royal fraternity have grown sadly accustomed to the mediocrity that our team has displayed since our one and only point of argument, which of course is the World Series Title in 1985.  A moment of tremendous glory followed directly by years and years of playoff obscurity.  

Needless to say if this were a children’s game of “don’t get to the playoffs” hide and seek we would have a crown so robust even King Tut would inquire to its price tag.  Unfortunately this is not golf and the low numbers don’t win titles, and as the Royals continued to scrape against the bottom of the barrel, people throughout the area began to lose faith.

Who could blame them?  A crazy man at best, but as the years pass and our hopes reigned eternal we refused to give up.  We refused to find a secondary team.  We refused to cheat because no matter how many times the one you love wrongs you there is always the small portion of your heart that will forget and forgive them.

Which in a long, roundabout way brings me back to my main point that these boys are on the verge of the playoffs!  And with my blood coursing through my veins at a fever pitch even now I require nothing from you or your baseball soul in a direct format.  I ask only that you look deep, deep inside your sporting subconscious and search for that miniscule portion of yourself that is a true fan.  A fan that wills a team like your life depends on it, and if this season falls short like we have become so used to, I bestow upon you this single duty my friend, never give up!

I know, this is something that we have heard a million times before but with our own eyes we have seen signs of something different.  A team built with the ability to compete, and with all the hopes of a town deprived of sporting enjoyment on their backs it seems that the Royals have finally decided to “come to play”.