The Royals have lived in a strange otherworld for so long, with so much joy and so many doubters proven wrong that the following sentence is both absolutely true and perhaps a bit jarring:
They have virtually no chance at making the playoffs. Still.
This is true, even now, with eight straight wins and 11 of the last 12. This is true, even now, with a wild-card deficit cut from 9 1/2 games to 3 1/2. This is true, even now, with the starting rotation soaring and Alex Gordon hitting and Paulo Orlando making a sneaky case for team player of the year.