Is this real life? Kansas City Royals can (and probably will) punch their ticket to World Series today

Chuck workplace productivity out the window today, Kansas City employers. 

In fact, give your worker bees some leash to play hooky this afternoon. Sure, have them put their nose to the grindstone. Tell them to eat lunch at their desk. But by midafternoon, call it quits. Let them witness some once-in-a-generation local history.

The Kansas City Royals are primed to earn their way to the World Series, starting this afternoon. They need only one more victory over the Baltimore Orioles, the latest American League franchise struck dumb by the Royals’ improbable October run.

Sure, the Orioles could overcome a three-game deficit in this best-of-seven American League Championship Series. Remember how the Boston Red Sox reversed a three-game gap in the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees?

It almost surely won’t happen this year. Not with the way this Royals team is playing.

Even when the bats fell relatively silent during last night’s pitchers’ duel, the Royals put on a defensive show to preserve a 2-1 victory. 

If the Royals win the World Series, this sterling catch by Mike Moustakas may replace, or at least rival, the Pine Tar Incident as the most memorable video clip in franchise history.

http://mlb.mlb.com/shared/video/embed/embed.html?content_id=36809187&width=400&height=224&property=mlbMoustakas perched himself upon a barrier along the third-base line to make a stab at an Adam Jones pop fly to lead off the sixth inning. True, if Moose had missed it, the ball would have fallen harmlessly for a foul ball.

But the way he forced the out in sideways Superman pose, the way he put his body in jeopardy, is emblematic of the way the Royals have handled these playoffs like they were a perennial winner, rather than a lineup largely devoid of postseason experience.

There’s little question that the Royals are the feel-good story of professional sports in 2014. Everything has gone this team’s way since the calendar flipped to October. They might as well send themselves off to the World Series in front of another packed Kauffman Stadium crowd.