Believe me, for someone who has been writing on this site for more than nine years, “Where does the time go?” is to find catchy words hard. So believe me when I tell you that Bobby Witt Jr.’s kid has a future in marketing if the whole baseball superstar thing doesn’t work out. At first it was the deceptively simple: “The boys are playing some ball!” That became a rallying cry for Royals players and fans alike. More recently it’s been kind of balanced more deceptively simple: “We didn’t come this far to get this far!” which sparked joy in the hearts of everyone who supports the Kansas City Royals.

I’m sure if you checked with Bobby before tonight’s ballgame, he would insist that it is still as true as it was when he said it after Washington’s first win that ended a seven-game series. The losing streak ended and the Royals immediately became the strong favorites to return to the postseason. And he should! It would be a great shame if the players and coaches decided they didn’t care if they beat the Yankees in the ALDS.

But well, the other team also has a say. And the Yankees have some very good players on their side. Among them, the guy who will likely stop Bobby from winning the first MVP the Royals have had since 1980, Aaron Judge. And if Judge and the Yankees beat the Royals, that’s honestly fine.

Don’t get me wrong. I want the Royals to win too! I swore to myself that as long as they performed well, I wouldn’t be upset if they lost the Wild Card series to the Orioles. However, that didn’t stop me from feeling incredibly tense as I watched every single pitch from both games. I may be okay with the Royals losing, but I definitely don’t want it.

There are a certain number of fans, both within and outside of the Royals fan base, who believe that nothing less than a World Series victory should be celebrated. To me this is absolutely crazy. Only one team can win the World Series each year!

If you root for the Astros, Dodgers, or Yankees, I think this expectation can make sense. These teams are expensive and long-term competitors. Baltimore and Atlanta have expectations that they have failed to live up to this season, not just in terms of making the playoffs, but also in terms of winning some series once they get there. Once you reach a certain height, your expectations increase.

But when you miss the playoffs nine years in a row and lost 100 games the year before, you should look at a team that not only made the playoffs but also won the first round and think, “Yeah, they got it.” pretty well done.” . This is a successful season!” That’s where the Royals are right now. As many other writers have noted, they are “playing with house money.”

If you’re not familiar with the term, it refers to the idea of ​​a player in a casino who has already made a win. This means they currently own money that once belonged to the “house,” a nickname for the casino where you play. When a player plays with house money, he is only using money that he has won over the course of his night of gambling. Even if they lose everything, the worst thing they can do is break even – assuming they don’t then continue betting on the money they brought with them and lose that too. And of course, a smart player might even put some of those winnings aside to ensure they end the evening with more money than they started with.

The Royals have already won. They have already secured a playoff appearance and even a series victory. The victories they hope for now will benefit them and the fans of Kansas City. But even if they lose, everything they’ve achieved counts and is still a big step forward from last season.

Of course, as I mentioned before, expectations change when a team is successful. When the Royals were eliminated from the 2014 World Series, they immediately expected that they would compete for the World Series again in 2015. This expectation lasted until 2017. They have already raised their expectations again for next season. At this point last year, most would have said winning 80 games in 2024 would be an achievement. At this point, anything other than a playoff spot in 2025 would certainly be a disappointment.

So if the Royals get knocked out by the Yankees, it’s okay to be sad. I can’t tell you how you feel, but I definitely think that if I was angry about this I would feel like I was overreacting. I imagine the Royals themselves will be pretty upset because none of these players or coaches know when they’ll get another chance. None of this will change the fact that they did everything that could reasonably be expected of them and more.

Still, until she Are If a player gets knocked out – by the Yankees or whoever – it will be incredibly fun to see how high the Royals’ expectations can rise for next season.