BALTIMORE – After another September loss gave the Kansas City Royals a second seven-game slide in the final month of the season, Will Smith saw the upcoming off day as a chance to make his teammates laugh.
“You guys are looking at this the wrong way,” Smith said. “The bright side is we can’t lose tomorrow.”
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The Royals won four of their final six games to make the playoffs a year after tying a franchise record with 106 losses, and after a two-game sweep of Baltimore, they are going to the AL Division Series to face the New York Yankees. It's the culmination of a remarkable turnaround from one season to the next and one game to the next.
“All we’re focused on is right now,” said first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, who had his surgically repaired right thumb covered as a precaution amid spraying sparkling wine during a boozy visiting clubhouse celebration. “We’re just focused on winning that pitch, and that’s what this team does. Losing streaks, winning streaks — it doesn’t matter. We just focus on that next pitch. We’ve done a really good job at it, and we’re going to keep trying to do it.”
AL batting champion Bobby Witt Jr., who drove in the go-ahead run in Games 1 and 2, said the goal is “one out at a time 27 times.”
Manager Matt Quatraro, also a playoff rookie, said his players take that mentality to heart.
“They believe it,” Quatraro said. “You can’t just talk about it. You can’t just put it on a T-shirt and say let’s go or hang it on the wall on a poster. You have to live it. These guys do.”
General manager J.J. Picollo endeavored last offseason and at the trade deadline to surround his young core with veterans chock full of playoff experience. In came Smith, a three-time World Series-winning reliever, along with Game 2 starter and All-Star Seth Lugo, Yuli Gurriel, Tommy Pham and Michael Wacha, who might get the ball for the ALDS opener at Yankee Stadium.
Leadoff hitter Michael Massey on Wednesday recalled Smith's snide comment from last month as a particularly strong example of older players loosening the mood around the team when there were plenty of slumped shoulders and reasons to worry.
“It was kind of eye-opening,” Massey said. "We’ve lost seven in a row. Everyone thinks we’re not going to make the playoffs. We’re going to blow it. Then you’ve got a guy like that who’s making a joke about it.
"It goes to show you their experience and their confidence. They’ve been there before. They’ve done it."
Now all the Royals have a winning playoff experience — emerging from a taut matchup by allowing one run over 18 innings while scoring three times. It's the first time Kansas City has won a playoff series of any kind since finishing on top of baseball as World Series champions in 2015.
“I think it’s the start of something special,” Witt said. “We didn’t come this far just to come this far, so we’re going to keep getting after it, keep trying to create our own legacy.”
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