It’s now or never for the Kansas City Royals.
Entering play on Friday, the Royals trailed the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros by five games for the final playoff spot in the American League. They were just two games back at the start of the week, so the situation has quickly gotten dire, but with 15 games left, they still think anything can happen.
First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino has been a vocal leader for the Royals all year, as well as their most potent power bat in the second half. If the team is going to mount a charge, he’ll be at the center of it, and he’s keenly aware of the tough road ahead.
On Thursday, after the Royals suffered a back-breaking 3-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, Pasquantino acknowledged the long odds the Royals are facing, but maintained that his team had a chance.
“Our road is very difficult right now,” said Pasquantino, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. “It’s not over, though. We’ve got to do whatever we can to get some wins and try to stack them together.
“We’re at the point where we have to get hot. That’s the only way that it’s going to happen. We need some things to go our way. We need to score more runs.”
Pasquantino also centered his message on the Royals’ clubhouse, as the team enters a pivotal six-game stretch against a pair of playoff teams, the Philadelphia Phillies and Mariners.
“We need to get hot, plain and simple. We’ve got 15 to go. Starts tomorrow. But we’ve got 15 left to win 15 ballgames, basically.”
Pasquantino topped both the 30-homer and 100-RBI marks for the first time in his career during the Guardians series, and is within a few points of an .800 OPS. He’s headed to arbitration for the first time this offseason, so it’s been a nice year for him to establish his value and prove he can stay healthy.
However, the season will go down as a disappointment for each and every member of the Royals if they miss out on the playoffs after making it last year.
More MLB: Guardians Rookie Makes Gleeful Admission On Homer That Could End Royals’ Season
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.si.com ’
