ALCS: Royals clinch improbable World Series berth with sweep of Orioles

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chances are, the possibility has crossed your mind at some point in the past week or so, but no matter how close the Royals were to clinching a spot in the World Series, it just felt incredibly unlikely to happen.

Well, it’s happened.

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Kansas City will represent the American League in the 2014 World Series, thanks to yet another game in which the offense scored just the right amount of runs to allow the defense and pitching to take care of the rest. 

This time, the Royals scored a pair of runs in the first inning — without getting the ball out of the infield, by the way — and those runs stood up the rest of the way. The 2-1 victory over the Orioles finished off a stunning four-game sweep and put the Royals in the Fall Classic for the first time since 1985 and only the third time since the franchise began play in 1969 (they lost the 1980 Series to the Phillies).

Why is this so improbable? 

Well, at one point in late July these Royals were 48-50. That’s one thing.

For another, they almost never hit home runs during the regular season. Just 95, in fact (though it feels like they’ve slugged nearly that many in eight playoff games). 

And then were was the “no playoff experience” thing that was supposed to hurt. Clearly, it hasn’t. The Royals haven’t lost a game in the postseason, clipping the A’s in a wild wild-card contest, sweeping the Angels in the ALDS and now finishing off the Orioles in four games in the ALCS.

Clearly nobody told these guys winning in October isn’t supposed to be this easy.

No matter, though. It has been, and the Royals are in the World Series. 

It’s happened.

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