The Penultimate Game Thread: Diamondbacks vs. Royals

I type this from the Kauffman Stadium press box.

Earlier, I was in the Kansas City Royals clubhouse. Everything seems more real today. I walked in to see Salvador Perez and Joakim Soria engaging in a furious game of ping pong. Joel Goldberg and Danny Duffy were having a quiet conversation by his locker.

Today is the second-to-last game of the Royals’ 2017 season, and functionally is the second-to-last game of the Royals’ Second Golden Age. In two days, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Lorenzo Cain, Jason Vargas, and Alcides Escobar will all be free agents at once. For the first time in seven years, the Royals’ long-term future is therefore in jeopardy.

So tonight is about them. All will start tonight. Tomorrow is about them, too.

So until they become free agents, we will revel in the existence of their Royal-ness. And hopefully they can win just a few more.

Lineup: