Kansas City Royals Finally Compete in October, Oakland A's Miss It by Minutes

The Kansas City Royals ended a 29-year playoff drought earlier this week. The American League Wild Card Game saw the Royals defeat the Oakland A's in an amazing 12-inning affair.

It was dramatic. It was historic. It was everything playoff baseball is supposed to be.

It was not, however, October.

October and postseason baseball have become synonymous with each other. As the playoffs begin, fans turn their thoughts to Halloween, leaves start changing colors, and the weather turns a little cooler.

There has been some debate about what constitutes the "postseason." MLB officially considers the postseason to begin with the Wild Card Games. If a 163rd game is needed to break a tie of any kind, that is not considered part of the postseason.

The Royals qualified for the Wild Card Game. They made it to the postseason. It had been almost three decades since Kansas City could say that. Still, many were willing to interchange "postseason" for "October."

That causes some confusion. The Royals have played baseball games in October since 1985. They were not postseason games. They were still baseball games during that month.

Even Major League Baseball seemed a bit confused. Their products, including the postseason shirts that many of the players had on in the dugout during the Wild Card Game, featured the slogan "Always October." Another inaccurate shirt proclaims that the A's are here for "#Oaktober." It seems the schedule makers and the marketing teams at MLB don't communicate well with each other.

The Wild Card Game lasted 12 innings. Indeed, the Royals and A's did everything they could to make the product line ring of truth. On the clock, the game lasted four hours and 45 minutes. The first pitch was delivered at 7:07 p.m. CT. That puts the end of the game at 11:52 p.m. CT on September 30.

It is a unique situation. Normally, the regular season is scheduled to come to a close shortly after the calendar turns to October. In some seasons, the regular season can even stretch on to the first few weeks of October. Playing a postseason game in September, as a matter of fact, only applied to this single game this year.

The Royals advanced. They get to play postseason, October baseball for the first time since winning the World Series in 1985.

Postseason baseball. Always October (except when it's not).

Bill Ivie is the founder of i70baseball.com. Follow him on Twitter and discuss baseball year-round.