Kansas City Flashback

On Monday, August 11, the Kansas City Royals took sole possession of first place in the American League Central Division, riding an eight-game win streak.

That winning streak came to an end on Tuesday, when Jon Lester and the Oakland A's beat the Royals 11-3. But Kansas City remained on top of the division thanks to a Detroit Tiger loss. Going into tonight's games, the Royals have a 1/2 game lead over the Tigers. 

Even when we visited Kansas City on July 25, the Royals faithful was full of excitement, believing their team has what it takes to make a run in the postseason. And now, with the newly appointed title of "division leader", Kansas City fans are as boisterous as ever.

If the season were to end today, the Royals would be in the playoffs as a division winner, avoiding the dreadful one-game playoff series. While there is plenty of season remaining (around 40 games left for most teams), there's a reason K.C. is so excited at the thought of having a playoff team — it would be the first Royals team to compete in the postseason since they won the World Series in 1985.

Yep. 1985. That's 29 years of playoff-less baseball in the City of Fountains.

There's a lot of buzz about this Royals team, which went on a 10-game win streak earlier this year. Kansas City boasts a top-10 bullpen (3.28 ERA) and its starting pitching has been a force as of late (3.59 ERA).

Time will tell if the Royals can avoid an end-of-the-year letdown and secure their spot in the postseason for the first time since 1985. Just for fun, here's a look back at that year, when K.C. was baseball royalty.

• U.S. President — Ronald Reagan. Vice President — George Bush.
   
• Most popular TV shows — 1. The Cosby Show; 2, Family Ties; 3. Murder, She Wrote; 4. 60 Minutes; 5. Cheers.
   
• Notable Billboard No. 1 Songs — Madonna, Like a Virgin; Foreigner, I Want to Know What Love Is; REO Speedwagon, Can't Fight This Feeling; Tears For Fears, Shout; John Parr, St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion); Jan Hammer, Miami Vice Theme; Starship, We Built This City
   
• Record of the Year — What's Love Got to Do With It, Tina Turner
   
• Box Office Hits — 1. Back to The Future; 2. Rambo: First Blood Part II; 3. Rocky IV; 4. The Color Purple; 5. Out of Africa.
   
• In 1985, David Letterman's first Top Ten list appeared. It was, "Top 10 Words that almost rhyme with 'Peas.' " In order of 10-1: Heats, Rice, Moss, Ties, Needs, Lens, Ice, Nurse, Leaks, Meats.
   
• Sports winners — Super Bowl XIX, San Francisco 49ers; NBA, Los Angeles Lakers; Stanley Cup, Edmonton Oilers; NCAA football, Oklahoma; NCAA basketball, Villanova
   
• Cost of a Super Bowl Ad — $525,000 (It was about 4 million bucks for a 30 second ad in this year's Super Bowl XLVIII).

As we said, there's still a long way to go, but if the Royals can keep their winning ways, K.C. will be ready to party like it's 1985. Who knows, we may have to make another trip down there for some postseason fun.