KC Royals face a tough battle in the race for the MLB playoffs

The KC Royals find themselves in an unexpected position: battling for a spot in the MLB playoffs, but with the toughest remaining schedule among the American League's wild card contenders, could they actually miss the postseason?

Going into Friday's game and today's opener of its three-game home series against San Francisco, Kansas City holds the second wild card spot and clings to a slim two-game lead over the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers. The Tigers have returned to contention, posting an 11-5 record in September after going 17-11 in August. And they just swept the Royals.

The Twins, meanwhile, stumbled to a September record of 7-11, and the Royals didn't fare much better at 7-9.

The remaining schedule does Kansas City no favors. The Royals finish the season on the road against the Atlanta Braves, who may then be fighting for their own playoff chances.

In contrast, Detroit faces the Chicago White Sox, who could set the record for most losses in the modern major league era, while Minnesota faces a Baltimore team that has cooled off a bit but may still have some play to play for.

What's going on with the KC Royals right now?

It is not Bobby Witt Jr., who recorded an OPS of 1.095 over the last seven days and recently became
the first player to record at least 10 triples, 30 stolen bases, 30 home runs and 40 doubles in a single season.

And the pitching has improved recently since the Royals suffered a 10-run loss to the Yankees on Sept. 10 – since then, the team's ERA has dropped from 3.91 to 3.85.

One cause for concern, however, is a recent power outage. The team's slugging percentage has dropped to .414, its lowest since August 9.

Overall, the current decline seems to be more a combination of bad luck and too much pressure.

Consider that this is a team that lost over 100 games last season alone and narrowly avoided setting a new franchise record for most losses in a season. No one expected the Royals to be in this position. But they are, and they need to find ways to win quickly.

There is reason to be optimistic that KC will reach the MLB playoffs

Despite their struggles FanGraphs still gives the Royals the best odds of making the postseason of the three teams (90.4% versus 63% for the Twins and 42.3% for the Tigers). However, Kansas City probably wants to take its destiny into its own hands rather than rely on mathematical projections.

The Royals have played above and beyond expectations all season, and now they face their biggest challenge yet: navigating a brutal schedule to secure their first playoff spot since 2015.

It won't be easy, but this young team has already proven it can compete with the best. The next 10 days will show if the Royals really belong in October baseball.

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