BALTIMORE — As Dr. Dre and Ludacris beamed from the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards, men clapped their hands, patted themselves on the back and shouted “Punch!” And “Good luck boys!” There was a long table, piled high with Baltimore clubs. It’s a fitting celebration, at least for the Royals, who play with house money after winning Game 1 of the American League Wild Card Series on Tuesday.
Despite beating the top-seeded Baltimore Orioles 1-0, Kansas City entered the day as underdogs. Here they spent the majority of the season, a year removed from winning just 56 games, completing a 30-win comeback, the largest in franchise history.
It’s been 10 years since the Royals won any series at Camden Yards, the house of horrors. Their visit to Baltimore resulted in nine series losses and one split, including two brutal series losses in April when Kansas City lost the lead and survived a five-hour rain delay. These early games were a wake-up call, the first of many tests for a young team that had already faced plenty of adversity, including two seven-game losing streaks.
“This team is special,” starting pitcher Cole Regans said Tuesday. He pitched six scoreless innings before quitting the game with calf cramps. “We know what we’re capable of. Everybody’s pulling for everybody. Everybody’s pushing everybody. … We know what’s going to happen and we want to play baseball for another month.” That’s what I think.
The Wild Card Series isn’t over yet, but history is definitely on the Royals’ side. In the current best-of-three format, the team that wins Game 1 goes on to win 14 out of 16 times.
Momentum may also be on their side. The Royals, who suffered nine straight postseason losses to the Orioles, looked sharper, faster and more energetic in the series opener, often silencing the less-than-capacity crowd at Camden Yards.
“Right after the national anthem, when they yelled ‘oh,’ it was loud,” second-year manager Matt Quatraro said. “But when you don’t have them on the board to keep the situation in check, this helps.”
Quatraro, who had masterfully mixed and matched his roster throughout the season, deftly dealt with injuries to the Reagans that could have easily derailed a Kansas City team that had just broken through to the top of the sixth inning thanks to a double by Bobby Witt Jr. Avoided. -Out single. Quatraro goes to Sam Long in the seventh, sealing the first playoff win of his career for closer Lucas Erceg, one of several players acquired in Kansas City’s aggressive trade deadline push. He asked for four outs. It was Kansas City’s first postseason championship since 2015.
The only one still on that team is catcher Salvador Perez, but he sees some similarities between the 2014 and ’15 playoff teams (the latter of which won the World Series) and the current group. He said he feels there is. young people. Moxie.
Although this team doesn’t have the turbo bullpen that was a hallmark of clubs in the past, the Royals’ relievers had a great final month of the season. It also doesn’t hurt to have Witt Jr., one of the best players in baseball. This is a Kansas City group that surprises and entertains people year-round.
When the Royals hosted the San Francisco Giants in late September, pitching coach Brian Sweeney had a chance to talk with his mentor, Brian Price, who spent more than 20 years in the dugout. You see, Price told Sweeney that the teams that have to fight to make the playoffs are usually the most dangerous.
According to Sweeney, this was the perfect way to explain the Royals’ journey. Due to the rapid rise of the Detroit Tigers and an ill-timed losing streak, Kansas City’s playoff berth was all but guaranteed, and it was only decided on the final Friday of the regular season. The team is inspired by recent wild card teams like last year’s champion Texas Rangers. Like the Royals, they finished the season on the road, only flying to another city for the postseason. The idea was to just come in.
There’s no point in style. The Royals have been winning all season, just like they did Tuesday. Great pitching and plenty of offensive power. In person, their style is as modest as the powder blue T-shirts that adorned the clubhouse during this long road trip, with only one word: “Today” emblazoned across the front.
This is Quatraro’s favorite mantra, reminding this group that even when the crabs are gone and the music stops, there’s still a lot of work to do, even if the first step, the first playoff win, is big. It will help you.
“100 percent, I think momentum has a lot to do with how good and how deep a team can get into the playoffs,” Erceg said. “As long as we keep our foot on the pedal, which I know we will, we’ll be in a good position.”
(Photo: Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
