For Royals fans, it all ended well at the Well on Wednesday

“Only 26 outs left!”

That shout emerged over the din of 200 Kansas City Royals fans packing the Well, clapping to celebrate the Baltimore Orioles’ first out of Wednesday afternoon’s game.

In many ways, it was the most perfect October day seen in this town since 1985. The sun was out, the air was crisp, and the Well’s staff lifted the garage doors to let in the outside air like it was mid-May. All of that, plus the Royals were playing for a World Series berth, with the first pitch going down at a time that induced no shortage of afternoon workplace hooky.

As such, it was understandable that baseball fans lining the Waldo restaurant were excited — maybe a bit too excited.

Every crack of the bat for a Royals player was greeted with a wave of screeching and merriment, even though most balls put in play during Wednesday’s pitcher’s duel were routine fly balls and groundouts.

Forgive the long-suffering Royals fan, though. For a generation, this has been one of the loneliest allegiances in the sports world, and now the city is being lavished with underdog-loving admiration.

Take, for example, Dave Gierke. The California transplant came to Kansas City more than 20 years ago, shedding his loyalty to the Los Angeles Dodgers in favor of loving the Royals.

It wasn’t an easy trade-off, switching from a wealthy (if perennially underachieving) team in favor of a small-market club pockmarked with 90-plus-loss seasons. Do years of struggle by the Royals make their surprise turnaround this year all the sweeter?

“If you’d ask a Cubs fan, what do you think they would say?” Gierke asks. “Hell, yes!”

Gierke and other Well watchers on Wednesday offered their full-throated approval for Alex Gordon’s unlikely outfield catch in the sixth inning, wherein he saved an extra base hit at the expense of a painful-looking smack into a chain-link fence.

Could it get any louder?

The answer, of course, was yes — the final out that cinched the Royals’ American League pennant.

Strangers hugged. A couple of drinks flew. Countless repetitions of “I can’t believe this is happening!” and “The Royals are going to the World Series!”

With the way this team is playing, it could be only 108 outs before Kansas City boasts a World Series title.