Has this first week of Kansas City Chiefs football made you forget about any hopes for postseason baseball in KC? You may be checking out a bit too early. Your Kansas City Royals still have a chance, but they have to play almost flawless baseball AND get help from two teams currently standing between them and a postseason berth. The Minnesota Twins lead the race now by two full games over the Angels and three games ahead of KC. Our odds for seeing October baseball at the K, according to FanGraphs, currently sits at 7.3%.
Minnesota has by far the best chance of breaking our hearts this September. Aside from currently leading the race, they also have a relatively easy end to their regular season schedule. 11 of their final 17 games come against teams with losing records. This includes today's final game with the San Diego Padres, a four-game series with the 68-77 Toronto Blue Jays and seven more against the 60-84 Detroit Tigers.
It's not all bad news for the Royals, however. KC will play three different three-game series against sub-.500 teams as well, and they expect Danny Duffy to return this weekend. The Royals' team batting average in September is also tied for the MLB's best. A few good days can still change everything, but KC needs the Twins to struggle to have any hopes of playing postseason baseball in 2017.
