Before the Game Begins, a Collection of Royals Playoff Odds

It's September 19th and we're about three hours away from first pitch in the most important series in Royals history since the last most important series in Royals history. If the Royals sweep this weekend series then they'll be in the driver seat for the final week of play. If they lose then they won't be in the drivers seat. I wanted to type something more eloquent than that, but in the words of the great philosopher Jagger: "you can't always get what you want."

The suspense is terrible...I hope it will last.

So before Jason Vargas very literally and somewhat figuratively toes the proverbial rubber as requested, but not necessarily mandated, by MLB rules to do so before hurling a pitch, let's look at the coldly calculated odds of the Royals making the playoffs.

In hope of properly purveying the Royals odds we'll try to grab as many odds as one can find on the seemingly infinite internet. The author will use the website "Google" in search for odds and will deem any site credible by merits decided solely and undemocratically by said author. Thus the author will be at the mercy of "Google" and his/her/its results.

So there you have it. Whatever it is, there it is, and you now have it.

The most optimistic for the Royals playoff odds is Fangraphs coin flip mode which makes sense. That mode gives every team, regardless of the team itself, a 50/50 chance (ala the odds of a coin landing heads/tails) at winning any given game. The least optimistic, one could say pessimistic, is the wonderful Clay Davenport who isn't so wonderful if your a Royals fan who's sanity hinges upon reading articles about Royals playoff odds. Then again, I don't think Clay Davenport is at any fault if that is the case.

I will now shuffle off this digital coil and pray the beer flows endlessly tonight. Let us embrace one another, coated in Royal blue, and celebrate the Royals of Kansas City. May our thunderstix smash like the hammer of Thor and shake the heavens and rumble the stadium like a clash of thunder by Zeus himself. May our feet be swift; may our bats be mighty; may our balls... be plentiful and the odds ever in our favor. And tonight...as we go to our homes, rest our heads on our pillows for slumber, may we rest well, and dream of large women.

O sleep, O gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse, how have I frightened thee, 
That thou no more will weigh my eyelids down,
And steep my senses in forgetfulness?
Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,
Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee,
And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber, 
Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great,
Under the canopies of costly state,
And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody?
O thou dull god, why liest thou with the vile
In loathsome beds, and leav'st the kingly couch 
A watch-case or a common 'larum-bell?
Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast
Seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains
In cradle of the rude imperious surge,
And in the visitation of the winds, 
Who take the ruffian billows by the top,
Curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them
With deafing clamour in the slippery clouds,
That with the hurly death itself awakes?
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose 
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude;
And in the calmest and most stillest night,
With all appliances and means to boot,
Deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down!
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.