ST. LOUIS – For the first time in nearly three decades, the Kansas City Royals finished with a better regular-season record than their Missouri MLB counterpart, the St. Louis Cardinals. And this year, the Royals are the only team representing the Show Me State in the MLB postseason.
Coming off an 86-76 regular season, the Royals secured the American League’s second Wild Card spot and just completed a first-round sweep of a young-up-and-coming Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. They now advance to face the top-seeded New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, a best-of-five battle that begins Saturday.
This marks the Royals’ first postseason appearance since the team won it all in 2015. Since then, the franchise has navigated through a lengthy rebuild, including a 106-loss season just last year.
This year, Kansas City has emerged as a Cinderella story of sorts, backed by rising stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino, along with significant upgrade to their starting rotation.
Given this unlikely success, and sharing the same state and Interstate 70, it may seem natural for some St. Louis Cardinals fans to get on board with rallying behind the Royals this October. Should that definitively be the case? Depends who you ask, but overall, it’s not a full-blown certainty for St. Louis to either support or not support the Royals.
The Royals have a different relationship with St. Louis than, say, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, given that the Cardinals exist and have a more storied history than the Royals, at least with total championships and accolades in mind. Traditionally, the Royals have played second-fiddle to the Cardinals, but the narrative has shifted this season.
Over the years, various fans and followers of both the Cardinals and the Royals have weighed in on how much fans, or whether at all, opposing fanbases should support their cross-state rival.
In 2015, a Reddit user who identifies as @mattyflex shared a lengthy blog post arguing that Cardinals fans don’t belong on the Royals bandwagon. He cited several past experiences of wearing Royals attire only for an apparent Cardinals fan to make remarks that they were Missouri’s superior team.
“There’s no room on the Kansas City Royals bandwagon for you,” said @mattyflex. “There’s no room for people who have spent decades thinking I deserved their opinions, or that their criticism of what I love was warranted. There’s no room for people that call themselves ‘The Best Fans in Baseball.'”
This sentiment isn’t exactly uncommon either. That same year, Adam Kilgore, who now works as a national sports reporter for the Washington Post, sparked debate on Twitter with the following remarks: “Observed from time there during the ALCS and watching last night: Kansas City is the baseball town St. Louis thinks it is,” much to the disapproval of Cardinals fans.
Despite occasional tensions over Cardinals fans being supportive of the Royals and vice versa, perspectives on the in-state rivalry are evolving.
Last August, a Reddit user who identifies as @jamesnollie88 shared his thoughts on a Royals-themed Reddit page. He expressed gratitude to the Royals fanbase after attending an I-70 series matchup, praising their friendliness and passion for the game.
“You guys have always been friendly and welcoming and the trash talk is almost always fun and not over the line,” said self-proclaimed Cardinals fan @jamesnollie88 on the Royals fanbase. “I had a blast getting to know the Royals fans in my section and I look forward to continuing to watch games with your fan base while I live here.”
Matthew LaMar of RoyalsReview.com briefly addressed the Cardinals-Royals dynamic in a January feature story with a straight-forward viewpoint: “The stone cold truth is that good sports teams attract more fans, and the longer that success lasts, the bigger a force multiplier you get. The Cardinals have achieved the top level a franchise can become: a generational success. … This is why if you go literally anywhere in Missouri that’s not Kansas City or St. Louis you most often encounter the combo Chiefs and Cardinals fan.”
For Cardinals fans contemplating support for the Royals, memories of the 1985 World Series may also linger. The Cardinals held a 3-2 series advantage and were within five outs of a series-clinching victory when umpire Don Denkinger made a controversial call. The Royals were awarded a momentum-changing infield single before the days of instant replay and went on to ultimately win Game 6 and secure the championship the next night.
To date, it’s the only head-to-head postseason matchup between the two teams, so the Royals holding bragging rights over the Cardinals in that regard.
More recently, Cardinals fans might feel compelled to support the Royals similar to how many in Kansas City rallied around the NHL’s St. Louis Blues during their 2019 Stanley Cup run. The support continues today with a regional fan club chapter, a hockey-themed bar in Kansas City and an occasional Blues preseason game out west.
As the Kansas City Royals continue their postseason journey, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer as to whether St. Louis Cardinals fans should support them this October. Ultimately, the decision may rest on one’s personal experiences and feelings of Missouri’s two baseball teams.
The Royals will begin their upcoming ALDS series against the New York Yankees at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Kansas City will host at least one matchup, Game 3 on Wednesday, Oct. 9, in addition to Game 4 if necessary.
One of the Royals, Yankees, Cleveland Guardians or Detroit Tigers will represent the American League in the 2024 World Series, which begins on Oct. 25 and could run through Nov. 2.
