After almost 30 years of getting stuffed into lockers by everyone in school, the Kansas City Royals finally stood up and slugged every bully they faced square in the mouth.
It’s earned them the right to face one last foe, the San Francisco Giants, winners of two of the past four World Series and baseball’s equivalent of the most popular guy in high school, the star quarterback who was named king of every dance he ever attended and always—ALWAYS—got the girl in the end.
The Royals’ perfect postseason run has been as improbable as it is impressive. It should also give Cubs fans a massive dose of the team’s marketing department’s favorite drug: hope.
That’s because the way these Royals are built and the way the Cubs will be constructed in 2015 have a lot in common. A big-name, front-line starter headlining the rotation (James Shields for the Royals, a to-be-named big-name free agent for the 2015 Cubs) backed by a solid if not spectacular cast of rotation mates; a roster of young stars acquired through shrewd trades and solid international scouting; an unheralded manager who somehow figured out how to get the most out of his players when the game was on the line; a team that is undeniably worth the price of admission to the ballpark.
Kansas City captures the imagination largely because that franchise and its fans embody what so many Cubs front offices have been promising—and failing to deliver—for generations.
This team is every reason why we lose ourselves in sports for three hours or so every day.
To be around Royals fans the past month or so is akin to being around puppies who were finally let loose in a grassy field after years of being trapped in the dark inside a confined cage, tales wagging, their eyes watering, the utter disbelief that this is all, in fact, real.
The Giants, well, they’ve had their turn. They’ve established themselves as a model franchise, with draft picks that actually perform instead of petering out, free agent signings that don’t spectacularly flame out, a Hall of Fame manager who knows what it takes to win.
For that reason and that reason alone, we should all be rooting not for the prom king, but for the president of the chess club, the guy who for years walked around with a rain cloud above his head until one day, he just got it.
Hope springs eternal on the North Side, but for once there’s a model that shows that this time around, it’s not completely unfounded. Kansas City’s last postseason run ended in a championship almost 30 years ago. And this year, Cinderella is going to be dancing long past midnight, with Kansas City wresting away the prom king’s crown in six games.
Oh, and Kansas City, improbable as this sounds, Chicago’s got next.
Matt Lindner is a RedEye special contributor.
