BALTIMORE ā 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.
āYou guys are looking at this the wrong way,ā Smith said. āThe bright side is we canāt lose tomorrow.ā
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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.
āAll weāre focused on is right now,ā 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. āWeāre just focused on winning that pitch, and thatās what this team does. Losing streaks, winning streaks ā it doesnāt matter. We just focus on that next pitch. Weāve done a really good job at it, and weāre going to keep trying to do it.ā
AL batting champion Bobby Witt Jr., who drove in the go-ahead run in Games 1 and 2, said the goal is āone out at a time 27 times.ā
Manager Matt Quatraro, also a playoff rookie, said his players take that mentality to heart.
āThey believe it,ā Quatraro said. āYou canāt just talk about it. You canāt just put it on a T-shirt and say letās go or hang it on the wall on a poster. You have to live it. These guys do.ā
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.
āIt was kind of eye-opening,ā Massey said. "Weāve lost seven in a row. Everyone thinks weāre not going to make the playoffs. Weāre going to blow it. Then youāve got a guy like that whoās making a joke about it.
"It goes to show you their experience and their confidence. Theyāve been there before. Theyāve done it."
Now all the Royals have a winning playoff experience ā 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.
āI think itās the start of something special,ā Witt said. āWe didnāt come this far just to come this far, so weāre going to keep getting after it, keep trying to create our own legacy.ā
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB