All it took for this scrappy, unheralded Kansas City Royals team to advance to the World Series was 8 victories – 8 straight victories - tying a major league record.
The latest victory was quintessential Royals – a taut, 2-1 affair that saw them play the game the right way, their way - and ushed them to a World Series berth, the first one Kansas City fans have seen since the 80's.
It seemed like the Baltimore Orioles – one of the best teams in the majors in the regular season – never really stood a chance. After hitting 211 homeruns in the regular season and winning 96 games, they just couldn't get anything going against a Royals team that is starting to smack of destiny.
"As a team, we played our [butts] off to get in this position," Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said. "We weren't expected to. According to Sports Illustrated, we were supposed to be out of it by June. We've been playing with house money for a long time.
"All the games were close and all the games were good. That's the beauty of baseball. Just, we fell a little bit short. It wasn't from the lack of effort."
Tough runs, gutsy pitching and serious defense again played a leading role for Kansas City.
The lasting image for the game, and perhaps the Royals season, was left fielder Alex Gordon crashing into the left-field wall as he made what was just another in a long line of quality defensive plays for Kansas City.
"It's been an amazing run," Gordon said. "This is great. We've been playing pretty good baseball. Nothing better than when you win. Today, same old story, good pitching, good defense. And scratch out a win."
The Royals struck for two runs in the first inning with an infield single, a hit by pitch, a sacrifice bunt and a fielder's choice, capped by Alcides Escobar kicking the ball out of the catcher's glove on a play at the plate, clearing the way for a second run to score.
It's been nearly three decades since the Royals have appeared in a World Series; their last appearance was 1985.
"I tell you what, we waited for this for a while, but it is worth it," Royals chairman/owner David Glass said during the AL trophy presentation. "I couldn't be prouder of that team. On behalf of my family, [general manager] Dayton [Moore, [manager] Ned [Yost], the coaches, the players, I think I speak for all of us when I say we dedicate this trophy to these fans."
Royals starter Jason Vargas gutted out 5 2/3 innings and the vaunted Kansas City bullpen did the rest - Kelvin Herrera went 1 2/3 innings, Wade Davis and Greg Holland one inning each.
Things got tight in the final frame as Holland, one of the best closers in the regular season the last two years (93 saves, 1.32 ERA), walked the leadoff batter then threw wide of second when the Orioles Nelson Cruz hit a seemingly tailor made double play ball.
But Holland seemed to settle in after that and the rest, as they say, is history.
"We were the best team in baseball through the second half of last year, and we basically were this year, too," said the Royals Billy Butler. "We got on a roll at the right time, we're basically playing our best baseball. I think we're showing everybody in the world what kind of talent we have in here."
The Royals will face the winner of the NLCS series – either the San Francisco Giants or the St. Louis Cardinals – in the 2014 World Series starting on Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.
Lorenzo Cain was named the ALCS MVP after some timely hitting and an astounding number of stunning defensive plays.
