The Kansas City Royals clinched a playoff berth on Friday night by virtue of the Twins' 7-2 loss to the Orioles. The Royals failed to get the job done on their own earlier in the night with a 3-0 loss to the Braves, but it doesn't matter now. The Royals will make their first trip to the postseason since 2015, when they defeated the New York Mets to win their most recent World Series title.
The Royals authored an impressive year-to-year turnaround, reaching the playoffs after losing 106 games in 2023. According to MLB's research, the Royals are just the second team to ever appear in the postseason in a full season a year after losing 100 or more games. The other team to accomplish that feat? The 2017 Minnesota Twins. (The Miami Marlins also did it in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.)
Kansas City can credit an aggressive winter that saw the team sign veteran starters Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha. Those two combined for nearly nine Wins Above Replacement, according to Baseball Reference's calculations. The Royals paid them $31 million combined this year and have likely had precisely zero qualms about it.
Of course, the Royals benefitted from the continued maturation of young star shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and starting pitcher Cole Ragans. Witt cleared the 9 WAR threshold -- a feat accomplished only once prior in franchise history, by George Brett back in 1980 -- and recorded his second consecutive 30-30 season. Meanwhile, Ragans solidified himself as one of the league's top lefty starters by posting a 3.14 ERA (135 ERA+) and a 3.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 186 innings.
The Royals join a now-complete American League playoff field that includes the New York Yankees, Cleveland Guardians, Houston Astros, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers. We don't yet exactly know the seeding, but we do have the six AL teams.