Being the fan of a contending team is nauseating and I love it

The highs and lows of the pennant push.

You can forgive Royals fans for not remembering how this works.

It has been seven years since the Royals were in contention through the second half of the season. But even in 2016 and 2017, when the Royals crashed in September and were eliminated in the final week of the season, there was a post-championship afterglow. So we didn’t make it, so what? Remember Gordo’s home run against the Mets? Remember Hosmer dashing home? Doesn’t that championship flag out there look awesome?

In 2015, there was an air of confidence and almost inevitability surrounding much of the season. The Royals got off to a great start, played great most of the year even when key players got hurt, and aside from the Astros series when they had to storm back with their backs against the wall, a championship seemed very likely all season.

Really, the last time Royals fans felt this kind of roller-coaster seasick nausea of a pennant push was in 2014. And even that was different. That was finding a dollar on the sidewalk, walking into a casino, then being amazed that you keep winning. Royals fans were playing with house money from July on, just along for an amazing ride they never expected to be on.

There is some element of that to this season, of course. The Royals lost 106 games and there were no expectations to begin the year. But the Royals had a great April, then followed up with a great May. We kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. They kept their head above water in June and July, obtaining fortifications at the deadline. This is what it feels like to be a buyer! The team got hot in August and even caught the Guardians for first place at one point.

But September is what separates the contenders from the pretenders and the Royals are still caught in between. They have suffered not one, but two seven-game losing streaks, and are hitting just .212/.282/.313 in the month of September, worst in baseball with less than three runs-per-game this month. The bullpen has been better, but their blown leads from early in the season still haunt Royals fans. Despite it all, they remain in the second Wild Card spot (tied with the Tigers, but owning the tiebreaker) with a two-game lead on the Twins, who are currently out.

Ain’t this fun?

Jon Bois once penned what is perhaps the greatest sports tweet of all time (all due respect to David J. Roth) when he accurately described overtime playoff hockey.

The pennant push in baseball isn’t quite that heart-pounding, but living and dying with each pitch, scoreboard watching, and celebrating as that magic number decreases (for the Royals, it’s down to four) is what it means to be a baseball fan.

Some fans like to be doom-and-gloom about games. Others are optimistic. We all deal with the ups-and-downs in sports in our own way. It’s odd that we use sports as an escape from the real-world problems we deal with - then subject ourselves to this kind of anxiety and dismay, this gut-wrenching, butt-holding, nervous energy and manic joy.

But that’s sports.

At least when your team is relevant. For so many years Royals fans had checked out by now, penciling in the lineup for next year, looking forward to the Winter Meeting, or more likely, following the Chiefs. But this year, the Royals have given us something to complain about. Something to celebrate. Something to care about.

It’s nauseating. And I love it. And I hope we have more in our future.