The Royals achieved their 100-win season goal for the 3rd year in a row, and 5th in the last 6 years, splitting games against the Nationals in what would be the missing win for Washington to reach the playoffs and then sweeping the Marlins to match their NL-leading 102-60 record for the season.
The Wildcard drama was reserved for the National League as the Nationals 6-4 record over the last 10 games wasn’t quite enough to unseat the incumbents while the Brewers went 4-6, including finishing 0-3, to miss out by one game to the Pirates who won on the last day of the season.
Bobby Nickelberry has surely locked up the Rookie of the Year Award in the American League as he secured the AL Batting Title, only the fifth Royal to do so, and third in the Colin Stewart era (Bobby Witt Jr. 2030, Jeremy Rogerson 2033).
J.J Tjepkema became the first Triple Crown winner in this universe, and therefore the first since Shane Bieber in 2020 and first full season winner since Justin Verlander in 2011.