ST. LOUIS – For the first time in nearly three decades, the Kansas City Royals finished the regular season with a better record than their MLB counterpart in Missouri, the St. Louis Cardinals. And this year, the Royals are the only team to represent the Show Me State in the MLB postseason.

After an 86-76 regular season, the Royals secured the second wild-card spot in the American League and are fresh off a first-round win over the young, up-and-coming Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday. They now face the top-seeded New York Yankees in the American League Division Series, a best-of-five battle that begins Saturday.

This is the Royals’ first postseason appearance since the team won it all in 2015. Since then, the franchise has undergone a lengthy rebuild, including a 106-loss season last year.

This year, Kansas City has become something of a Cinderella story, helped by rising stars Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino and a significant improvement in their starting lineup.

Given this unlikely success and the fact that they are in the same state and on Interstate 70, it may seem natural for some St. Louis Cardinals fans to root for the Royals this October. Should that definitely be the case? Depends on who you ask, but overall it’s not a complete certainty that St. Louis will either support the Royals or not.

The Royals have a different relationship with St. Louis than, say, the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs, in that the Cardinals exist and have a more storied history than the Royals, at least considering overall championships and awards. Traditionally, the Royals played second fiddle to the Cardinals, but the story changed this season.

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Over the years, various fans and supporters of both the Cardinals and Royals have pondered how many fans or whether the opposing fan bases should even support their cross-state rival.

In 2015, a Reddit user identified himself as @mattyflex shared a lengthy blog post arguing that Cardinals fans are not on the Royals bandwagon. He cited several previous experiences wearing Royals apparel, only for an obvious Cardinals fan to remark that they were Missouri’s superior team.

“There is no place for you on the Kansas City Royals roster,” he said @mattyflex. “There is no room for people who have spent decades believing that I deserve their opinion or that their criticism of what I love is valid. There is no room for people who call themselves ‘The Best Fans in Baseball.’

This feeling isn’t exactly unusual either. That same year, Adam Kilgore, now a national sports reporter for the Washington Post, sparked a debate on Twitter with the following remarks: “Watching from there during the ALCS and last night: Kansas City is the baseball town St. Louis believes it is,” much to the dismay of Cardinals fans.

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Despite occasional tensions over Cardinals fans supporting the Royals and vice versa, views on the intrastate rivalry are evolving.

Last August, a Reddit user identified himself as @jamesnollie88 shared his thoughts on a Royals-themed Reddit page. He thanked the Royals fan base after attending an I-70 Series game, praising their kindness 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 top,” the self-proclaimed Cardinals fan said @jamesnollie88 on the Royals fanbase. “I have had a lot of fun getting to know the Royals fans in my division and I look forward to continuing to watch games with your fan base while living here.”

Matthew LaMar of RoyalsReview.com addressed the dynamic between the Cardinals and Royals succinctly in a January post: “The cold truth is that good sports teams attract more fans, and the longer the success lasts, the greater it is Power.” Multiplier you receive. The Cardinals have reached the highest level a franchise can achieve: generational success. … That’s why if you literally go anywhere in Missouri other than Kansas City or St. Louis, you’ll most often see the combination of Chiefs and Cardinals fans.”

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For Cardinals fans thinking about supporting the Royals, memories of the 1985 World Series may also linger. The Cardinals had a 3-2 lead in the series and were just five outs away from a decisive victory when umpire Don Denkinger made a controversial call. The Royals got a game-winning infield single before the days of instant replay and ultimately won Game 6 and secured the championship the next night.

To date, it is the only direct postseason duel between the two teams, so the Royals are far superior to the Cardinals in this regard.

More recently, Cardinals fans may feel compelled to support the Royals, similar to how many in Kansas City joined the NHL’s St. Louis Blues during their 2019 Stanley Cup run. Support continues today with a regional fan club chapter, a hockey bar in Kansas City and an occasional Blues preseason game out west.

As the Kansas City Royals continue their postseason journey, there is no one-size-fits-all answer as to whether St. Louis Cardinals fans should support them this October. Ultimately, the decision may come down to the personal experiences and feelings of Missouri’s two baseball teams.

The Royals begin their upcoming ALDS series against the New York Yankees on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Kansas City will host at least one game in addition to Game 4 on Wednesday, October 9th, Game 3 if necessary.

One of the Royals, Yankees, Cleveland Guardians or Detroit Tigers will represent the American League in the 2024 World Series, which begins October 25 and could last until November 2.

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