Royals Clinch 2014 World Series Berth: Celebration Highlights, Twitter Reaction

The Kansas City Royals were a wild-card MLB playoff team, four runs down and six outs away from being eliminated in their first postseason game.    

On Wednesday at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City rattled off its eighth straight win, sweeping the Baltimore Orioles with a 2-1 victory to advance to the World Series.

Polar opposites collided in this American League Championship Series. Baltimore's penchant for jacking home runs went against the Royals' small-ball approach, and the latter won out in dominant fashion.

Case in point—the two runs the victors scored Wednesday in the bottom of the first:

Amy Lawrence of CBS Sports Radio Network documented what Royals star Alex Gordon had to say afterward:

That defense Gordon alluded to was an area he contributed to in robbing J.J. Hardy of extra bases in the top of the fifth:

Just before the clinching game was officially in hand, The Washington Post's Kent Babb weighed in on KC's amazing run:

Royals starting pitcher Jason Vargas went 5.1 innings and gave up just two hits and one earned run on a Ryan Flaherty solo homer in Game 4. Kansas City's bullpen yielded just two hits after Vargas left the mound, taming the Orioles' explosive bats.

Below is the final out of closer Greg Holland's fourth save of the series:

Fox Sports Detroit's Lindsey Hayes highlighted just how amazing Royals relievers have been:

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports weighed in on the Royals' first AL pennant since 1985:

That year also marked KC's lone World Series title, along with its last trip to the playoffs overall. It makes this epic Cinderella story of a 2014 postseason all the more impressive.

ESPN's Darren Rovell offered further World Series context:

CBS Sports created this graphic to represent the reascending Royals:

MLB Fan Cave captured one fortuitous fan's confluence of circumstances:

Robert Flores of ESPN made a humorous Drake reference:

All that was left to do in the aftermath was celebrate. After so many years of trials and tribulations, Royals fans could finally soak in the glory that has eluded them for so long:

The Royals' Vine account had footage from the clubhouse:

Actor Paul Rudd got in on the fun:

And of course, a World Series-clinching selfie is a must:

A date in the Fall Classic with the San Francisco Giants appears likely, since they have won MLB's top prize in the two most recent even-numbered years. The Giants have a 2-1 series edge in the NLCS over the St. Louis Cardinals, but either NL adversary will be a formidable one for Kansas City to handle.

But the Royals are used to being underdogs, having thrived in the role for the past nine games. They can't really be considered under-the-radar anymore, because they haven't lost at all lately when it's mattered most.

Whichever NL representative advances will be favored, yet it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see Kansas City emerge with the Commissioner's Trophy.