Area fans get payoff of celebrating the Royals’ playoff-clinching win

Kansas City had waited so long for this baseball game. Twenty-nine years, in fact. Friday night it was finally here, a September duel with real significance for the Royals.

Whether they enter the playoffs as the American League Central champions or a wild-card team will be determined in their final two regular-season games this weekend. But this much was clear Friday night, long before the first pitch: a victory in Chicago would mean a playoff game — at least one, which is one more than than the Royals have played since 1985.

Outside Brewer’s Sports Bar and Grill in Blue Springs leaves fall to the sidewalk. Inside, hope is abundant. Brewer’s brick walls create a sound chamber, and there is plenty of banter to echo off of them.

Some fans gather to watch the Royals’ chance of clinching their playoff spot.

“It’s nerve-racking right now,” Lisa McSparin says before the result. “But if they win, it’ll be a relief. A weight lifted off the city’s shoulders.”

“Pivotal,” says Pam Otis, 55, wearing an ‘I Believe’ T-shirt. “It’s going to change the perception of how baseball is seen here. It’s a whole generation that didn’t know the Royals could be good.”

The game starts and the jumbled emotion begins.

The Royals’ Alcides Escobar leads off with a single. Nori Aoki drives in Escobar with a triple. Lorenzo Cain singles and Aoki scores.

The game is just five minutes old.

“What happened while I was in the bathroom?” Otis asks. “I heard all that cheering.”

The Royals’ 2-0 lead uncorks a round of claps, whoops and hollers. Salvador Perez could fly out to end the first inning, and this packed crowd at Brewer’s would erupt in applause. In fact, he does and they do.

Dalton Brewer, 20, is the owner’s son. He’s a waiter. His job Friday night is the same as any other night: to deliver drinks and food to waiting tables. But as often as he can, he peeks up at one of the five plasma televisions on the walls.

“Hey,” Brewer says, leaning over the bar toward McSparin. “An adjective about the Royals. What’s a good adjective for the Royals? How about exhilarating? I like that one.”

“About time,” McSparin laughs. “Unbelievable. Finally. Due.”

Alex Gordon lofts a ball to right field. White Sox right fielder Jordan Danks nabs it at the fence to end the inning. But with the Royals leading 3-0 in the third inning, it appears time will make amends with Kansas City.

Drake Tucker was 2 years old, growing up in the Lake of the Ozarks, when the Royals last made the playoffs.

On Friday night, he sits at a table in the back corner next to his friend Ryan Steigleder, 28. Steigleder wears a charcoal-colored Gordon T-shirt. Tucker, 31, wears a blue Gordon T-shirt.

“My father-in-law tells my nephews to look up to (Gordon),” Steigleder says. “Model yourselves after him because he plays the whole game the right way.”

Steigleder grew up in Kentucky. He moved to Kansas City about 10 years ago.

“I married into a true blue family,” he says. “So I had to embrace it. And I have wholeheartedly.”

“I’m true blue,” Tucker chimes in.

The seventh inning ends. The Royals still lead 3-0.

Chicago finally scores in the bottom of the eighth.

Alexei Ramirez singles to drive in center fielder Adam Eaton, and suddenly it’s 3-1. Breaths are held and stomachs are clinched. But Wade Davis strikes out Conor Gillaspie to end the inning.

“Let’s go Royals,” people in the bar chant, banging on the counters. “Let’s go!”

In the ninth inning, closer Greg Holland seals it. The Royals win 3-1.

The 29-year curse, the longest drought in major North American professional sports, is broken.

“Playoffs!” a man screams, toasting his beer.

“It’s crazy, man,” another says from across the table. He shakes his head.

Champagne finally cascades over the Royals, and the drinks and smiles flow in Kansas City, too.

This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 11:29 PM with the headline "Area fans get payoff of celebrating the Royals’ playoff-clinching win."