It’s October, and that means its playoff time in Kansas City!

Forget that it’s a phrase people in KC have only used twice in the last 30 years, while our neighbors east-bound on I-70 have seemingly made it ever year.  Who cares now if you live in the epicenter of baseball?   For the first time ever, the state of Missouri will represent the two best teams, according to record, in each teams’ respective league.

For a while, it looked as if the Royals were cruising their way to a 100+ win season, a feat that has only been accomplished once in franchise history. In 1977, the Royals went 102-60, only to lose to the famous ’77 Yankees team in 5 games in the ALCS.  A Yankees team managed by Billy Martin, and featured a coach on staff by the name of Dick Howser.

September was a real rollercoaster for Royals fans as the team started doing something they hadn’t done since May, they started losing. With the Toronto Blue Jays surging through the American League, it looked as if the Jays would end up with the best record in the AL.  But there’s just something special about these Royals.  Things always seem to work out unless there’s a Bumgarner involved.  And sure enough, just when it looked like the Royals were fading and the starting pitching was a mess, they put it all back together in time for the post season.

The Royals now hold home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, which is not to be taken lightly in today’s era of baseball where pitchers dominate in the post-season.

The question still remains; do the concerns we had about this team 10 days ago still exist? The Royals saw better starts from Johnny Cueto and Yordando Ventura in the second month. Ventura had a first half of 2015 to forget. The Royals are what they are offensively, be confident that this lineup can find a way to produce runs in the playoffs. The real concern going into the ALDS is can this pitching staff produce at least 3 starters who can take a game into the 7^th and let the bullpen take over. Last year, with James Shields, Ventura’s coming out party, and a fully healthy Jason Vargas, it seemed as if it was easier for the Royals to win low scoring affairs in the post-season. You would think with a one, two, three punch of Ventura, Cueto, and Volquez you would get better starts in the playoffs.  But somehow it doesn’t seem that way.  Just remember, this team has a strong tendency to perform when the most pressure is on.

The Royals ended the regular season on a high note, and it is certainly a sigh of relief in Kansas City.  Keep in mind at least half the Royals fans now are either new to all this or too young to remember  glory days of the 70’s and 80’s.  So it’s only natural to think bad things can happen when all you have seen is bad things until the last 14 months.  It’s hard to handle dominating the American League, and then having a team do what they have done for so long, lose.  I’m not sure if the 5 game winning streak to end the season solves all the problems.  But It certainly gives the team momentum despite  the fact that this pitching staff has underperformed throughout most of the season.

Regardless, you don’t win 95 games by accident. The Royals have certainly lived up to fan expectations when it comes to an American League Championship follow-up season. This team has the will to win, and sometimes in October, that’s all it takes. Ask the 2006 and 2011 St. Louis Cardinals. Win or lose, this team will have their own un-sung hero this post-season. A David Freese if you will, we all remember what he did in 2011.

It’s now time to sit back, and let this post-season play itself out. We know what this team is capable of doing even if so many outside of Kansas City do not . Everyone is looking at Toronto in the American League. But experience matters now. A lot. And while some still think of the Royals as some young gun upstart team of kids, the Royals have more post season experience than anybody they’ll play.  Most of the Royals current roster is fresh off a World Series appearance.

Tonight the Royals will find out who they will be hosting in game one of the ALDS on Thursday.  The Houston Astros are this years’ surprise team in the American League. We have been hearing throughout the past few 100+ loss seasons from Houston that they are building and will soon be a contender. Boy, how many years in a row did we hear that? To Houston’s credit, they arrived a year early to the playoffs when many weren’t expecting them to be playing meaningful baseball until 2016. They have very solid pitching, and arguably the best pitcher in the American League hitting the hill in New York tonight. Dallas Keuchel was the starting pitcher for the American League in the All-Star Game.  The Oklahoma native and Arkansas Razorback standout was drafted in the 7^th round in the 2009 draft, and has been everything Houston could have asked for.  Keuchel won 20 games this year and posted an era of 2.48.

Houston and New York are similar in that both teams led their divisions for most of the season, until a division rival made mid-season trades that helped elevate them to the top. Here they meet in the Bronx to determine their post-season fate. The Yanks are trotting out their ace Masahiro Tanaka, who has had a good year. The New York Yankees are limping into this post-season. Offensively, they aren’t anything special without Mark Texiera who has been on the IR for a while now. Veterans like A-Rod and Carlos Beltran have provided a spark, but the Yankees don’t have that “it” guy. The guy you want at the plate with the game on the line. A-Rod says he’s embracing the “underdog” role heading into the post-season, which is odd to think a Yankee playoff team is an underdog in a wildcard matchup.

There is no doubt about it; the Royals would rather play the Yankees in the ALDS. Tanaka would not be available for games one or two at Kauffman Stadium, and with C.C. Sabathia checking himself into rehab for an apparent alcohol addiction, manager Joe Girardi will be limited with his pitching staff. Houston is a better team. Better pitching, and a better lineup, but they struggled down the stretch of the season and couldn’t hold on to the AL West.  If we haven’t already learned how important winning your division is, we will tonight and tomorrow with the wildcard games.

Houston wins a low scoring affair in the Bronx, and Dallas Keuchel pitches game 3 or 4 against the Royals in Minute Maid Park.