By now this Royals season is all over except the schedule. Sixteen games remain, including one final homestand, maybe the last ever for some stars who changed a franchise. More words will be said, more games played.
But the idea of this team in the playoffs is done, realistically anyway, and this has been true for some time.
So maybe it’s best to say an already dying season took its last breaths here, in a 3-2 10th-inning loss in front of a sold-out crowd and many more on television who viewed the fading Royals as nothing more than plucky henchmen as the Indians pushed their amazing winning streak to 22 games.