The Kansas City Royals, once the laughing stock of the American League, are finally starting to turn the corner.  Since the break they have had a nine game winning streak and are currently 19-8 overall in the second half.  The only problem is, the team they are chasing, the Detroit Tigers, have also won 19 games since the break.  This solid second half has regenerated this team and made them look like they are finally ready to step out of the cellar and into the spotlight.  The question is, though, can they contend in the AL Central against the reigning American League Champion Tigers and the new and improved Cleveland Indians?

If the last two months have been any indication of what the Royals are going to do the rest of the way, the answer is yes.  The Royals can surely compete in the AL Central, but not this year.  The problem isn’t that they aren’t good enough, they have proven that in the last month.  The problem is that their disappointing first half has put them too far behind the Tigers.  They currently sit 8.5 games out of first place, and although in the last two years bigger leads have been blown, it is hard to see how a team as good as the Tigers could blow that big of a lead.  That doesn’t mean that they cannot turn the corner and do something that they haven’t done since they won the World Series in 1985, make the playoffs.

Sure, the Royals are probably not going to make a run at the AL Central, but the way they are currently playing ball, one of the two wildcard spots are not out of question.  The offense has made great strides this season, and players are starting to live up to their potential, but the most important part is that they are starting to give what has been a very good pitching staff all season some run support.  The pitching staff, in fact, owns the best ERA in the American League, and that could not only help them win games now, but make them very dangerous in the playoffs.  They will have to overcome five teams to get into the top spot in the wild card, but the 5.5 games they are back in the wildcard is much more conceivable than what it would take to win the AL Central.  The struggles of the top two teams in the wildcard, the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics, will make it easier for them to move up to the top.

It may seem easy to look down on the lovable losers who haven’t made the playoffs in almost three decades, but don’t look past them.  Billy Butler and Eric Hosmer are two of the hottest hitters in the league in the last month, batting .337 and .325 respectively, and if they can keep it up in support of that pitching staff, the Rays and A’s will have a fight on their hands.  This team is young, and some would say inexperienced, but all it takes is one playoff game to change all of that.  If this run continues, all that inexperience could be gone.