Fans make sacrifices to see Royals in playoffs

When Randal Stanley watched the Royals clinch an American League Wild Card Game berth, he knew he had to be at Kauffman Stadium to take it all in.

It was not easy though.

Stanley, who grew up in Kansas City and graduated from Ruskin High School had since moved to Westfield, N.J., and the distance was just one of the challenges that stood in front of him.

“It was a matter figuring out the logistics to get here without spending a fortune, getting off work and getting my wife’s permission,” Stanley said. “It all worked out great, and I’m like a little kid excited on Christmas morning about this.”

Stanley flew down Tuesday morning and is planning on leaving on Wednesday after watching the game with his sister Jennifer Coday of Harrisonville, who let him stay at her home.

Although Skippy Luster and Rachel Johnson did not have to traverse the same distance, they had a few hoops of their own to jump through. They waited to buy tickets until the game was official and ended up paying $175 for tickets in the lower deck, but they agreed that it was worth it.

“That was some of our vacation fund, but it doesn’t matter,” Luster said.

“We’ll just take it out of savings,” Johnson added with a laugh.

The plan was to leave work at 4 p.m., but as the morning dragged on, they couldn’t help themselves.

Johnson started setting up at 1:30 p.m. and Luster joined the group around 3:30. By 4 p.m. everyone was snacking on ribs and comparing their new playoff gear purchased at Monday’s pep rally.

“I’m beyond excited. I couldn’t even focus today,” Luster said. “We started calling and asking people how soon they could be here so we could leave. We had to leave.”

This story was originally published September 30, 2014 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Fans make sacrifices to see Royals in playoffs."